DAVY VIEW

William Hill, like many in the sector, will be glad to finally have 2018 ‘in the rear-view mirror’. It indicated this morning that results for the year are at the mid-point of its previous guidance range (c.£234m; range c.£225-245m), with trading in recent months as expected. However, the operating environment has clearly become significantly more difficult over the past 12 months. The question now is to what extent recent investments – MRG is now nearing completion and US expansion efforts continue to accelerate – can re-stimulate its investment thesis and return the group to growth moving forward.