Bookmakers chain Ladbrokes has reported pre-tax profits of £191.3m sterling for the year to the end of December, down from £265.6m in 2008.
After what it called a challenging year, Ladbrokes said its revenues last year fell to £963.7m from £1.053 billion the previous year.
In Ireland, Ladbrokes said its business has suffered with the recession and poor sporting results. However, it added that it is well positioned to benefit when the recovery materialises.
It said that the environment in Ireland is particularly tough with more than 95 shops closing across the industry during 2009.
Ladbrokes said that like-for-like over the counter stake amounts in at its Irish shops declined by 8.6%. The OTC gross win margin was down 1.5 percentage points. Gross win is the amount of money taken in in bets minus the amount paid out in winnings.
It said that overall gross win in Ireland was down 5.7% at £86.3m with the benefit of the Eastwood acquisition and favourable exchange rates more than offset by weakness in the amounts staked and a much lower gross win margin.
However, it said that given the challenging environment, cost control remains a key area of focus.
By the end of 2009, Ladbrokes said it had 207 shops in the Republic of Ireland and 78 shops in Northern Ireland. Ten shops were closed during the year and it opened nine new shops.
