Flutter shares rise 11% as Paddy Power owner raises outlook on strong US demand

Flutter Entertainment shares Prices soared on Wednesday morning after the owner of Paddy Power raised its annual guidance.

By 10am on Wednesday they were up 10.6 per cent at £162.05, making them the biggest gainers on the FTSE 100 index.

The Dublin-based company, which also owns Betfair and Pokerstars, said it had benefited from “positive” sporting results and “excellent performance” in the past quarter.

Its turnover rose 22 per cent in constant currencies to $3.6 billion (£2.8 billion) in the three months ended June 30, mainly due to extraordinary growth in the United States, where revenue rose 39 per cent to $1.5 billion.

Outside the US, Flutter’s sales rose by around $180 million to $2.1 billion as the Indian Premier League and European football championships drove up the number of bettors.

The average number of monthly players on the company’s betting platforms increased by 17 percent year-on-year to 14.3 million.

Following this performance, Flutter now expects its annual U.S. sales to total between $6.05 billion and $6.35 billion, while adjusted earnings before unforeseen events will come in at $680 million to $800 million.

This compares with previous forecasts of $5.8 billion to $6.2 billion and $635 million to $785 million, respectively.

Excluding the U.S., Flutter anticipates revenue of $7.85 billion to $8.15 billion and adjusted earnings before adverse events of $1.7 billion to $1.85 billion.

It had previously expected revenue and adjusted earnings of $7.65 billion to $8.05 billion before disappointing results of $1.63 billion to $1.83 billion.

Flutter’s results are the first since the group transferred its primary listing from the London Stock Exchange to Wall Street in late May and established its operational headquarters in New York.

The company was driven to make this decision in part because its FanDuel division generates the majority of its revenue and U.S. markets allow companies to access much deeper pools of capital.

Sports betting has grown enormously in popularity in the United States since the country’s Supreme Court in 2018 struck down a federal law that banned the practice outside a few states.

Subsequently, several states have liberalized gambling laws, which has provided a huge opportunity for British and Irish bookmakers to grow their business.

Peter Jackson, chief executive of Flutter, said its “excellent” US performance in the second quarter reflected its “disciplined approach to customer acquisition and our best-in-class product, which offers our sportsbook customers the best prices in the market.”

He added: “The returns we are seeing give us the confidence to continue driving customer acquisition in the second half, building a larger business, which bodes well for 2025 and beyond.”