Mobile revenues drive growth at Betfair

Online betting exchange Betfair says profits grew by over a half in the 12 months to the end of April as mobile revenues drove growth.

Revenues for the year were £390m, down slightly on the prior year's figure of £393m but in line with the consensus forecast (£391m).

Profits before tax were significantly better than the market had been expecting at £41.6m, against £26.6m in 2010/11 and above the consensus forecast of of £37m.

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Betfair saw 44m bets made over its mobile platform, a 122% rise on the previous year, generating revenues of £22.7m, up 97%.

"The increasing penetration of smartphones and the convenience of the channel for customers have led to strong growth in mobile usage and revenues. In April alone, customers placed over 6 million mobile bets and almost 50% of UK & Ireland active users used the channel" said Stephen Morana, Betfair's Interim Chief Executive Officer.

He added: "FY13 has started well, with Core Betfair revenue up 18% in the first 8 weeks against the prior year, driven by the European Championships and a return to historical margin levels in risk products."

By 08:50 the share had risen 3.5%

BS