British bookmaker William Hill posted a 2% rise in pre-tax profit and announced a resumption of its share buyback programme, but it said its Web poker and casino site continued to find the going tough.
The gambling and betting company has 48 stores in the Republic out of its over 2,000 stores.
The company reported pre-tax profit for the six months to June 26 of £134.2m, which was at the upper end of analysts' forecasts.
It said it intended to resume its share buyback programme and upped its interim dividend to 7.75 pence.
The company said gross win in the four weeks to July 24 had fallen 1%, in line with its expectations, as it struggled to recreate the attraction for gamblers of last year's soccer World Cup.
'We are pleased the group has seen profit growth in the period, notwithstanding the absence of a major football tournament and the incremental costs of AMLD (tax on video gambling machines)', the firm said in a statement.
'We continue to be confident of the group's future prospects', it added.
