Bookmakers Power Leisure today issued its first results since the company floated on the Irish and London stock exchanges in December.
The group, which trades as Paddy Power Bookmakers, reported full year pre-tax profits of 11 million euros - up 55% from the previous year.
The group, which has on-line betting services in both Ireland and Britain, proposed a final dividend of 1.17 cents per share, bringing the total dividend to 2.92 cents per share. The group launched its website here last June and said it had 14,441 account registrations by mid-February. Its UK site will be launched during the next few weeks.
Turnover through its Internet betting service was 8.5 million euros, which was generated on a average bet size of 31 euros.
The company has plans to launch online services through the interactive digital television systems of NTL and Telewest in the next few months, but it warned that it would consider moving its operations from Ireland and the UK unless heavy betting duties there were reduced in the next few months.
Power Leisure shares closed at 3.60 euros in Dublin yesterday, valuing the company at 163.3 million euros. They ended unchanged in Dublin this evening.
