Paddy Power reveals record profits

The share price of bookmaker Paddy Power has slipped this morning (March 4th) after the company revealed its latest financial results in a statement.

Despite the firm announcing it made a record amount of profit before tax for the full year 2013, with a five per cent rise to €141 million (£116.3 million) compared with the previous 12 months.

Net revenue for the year was revealed to be €745 million, which the bookie stated was up 17.2 per cent with revenue growth in every division of the business over the course of 2014.

Earnings growth was noted by the firm to have been impacted by a €10 million headwind from new product fees and taxes, currency depreciation and the first full year of investment in Italy.

Controversy

Paddy Power has also made headlines in the last week for offering punters their money back on bets on the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, with the South African Olympic athlete currently in court after his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead in February last year.

The bookmaker is no stranger to controversy, as it previously sponsored Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner's underwear. The attacker was given a hefty fine when he revealed the sponsored pants after scoring a goal at the Euro 2012 tournament.

Patrick Kennedy, chief executive at Paddy Power, stated that 2013 had been "another good year" for the company.

He added: "We continue to build out our industry leading penetration in mobile sports betting and eGaming: mobile net revenue powered ahead by 73 per cent in 2013 and now accounts for over half of total online revenue. Investment in mobile will continue to be significant in order to take advantage of our market leading position and avail of its exceptional growth potential."

Despite these bullish comments from the bookmaker's chief executive and the record amount of profits made by the firm last year, the share price of the company was down by 0.38 per cent at 11:00 GMT this morning.

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