William Hill has posted another set of strong figures from its online business, boosting operating profits for the full year up to £330m – up from £276m the previous year.
Britain’s biggest bookies reckon this is in large part down to its digital activities which were up 36% year on year.
Building on this success William Hill is to mount a £54m acquisition spree, snapping up the Australian arm of online bookmaker Sportingbet together with an option to pick up the same firms Spanish business.
A possible bid to buy out a 29% stake in the business held by Playtech is also being mulled.
William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping said: “Performance was robust in retail and profits continued to grow strongly in online, with sporting results going in our favour in both channels.
"The market continues to reward those companies which have embraced online business and William Hill is no exception," said Richard Hunter at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.
"The company's progress has been reflected in a share price which has risen 62% over the last year."