SOURCE: business.timesonline.co.uk

(London, England) — An “exceptional” run of bad luck for punters fuelled a jackpot for shareholders at Paddy Power today as the Irish bookmaker unveiled record profits and increased its half-year dividend up by 70 percent.

Shares in the the company rose from €23.00 to €23.70 after it said that a surge in favourable results at sporting events saw operating profits double to €40.8 million (£27.5 million) in the six months to June 30, beating City expectations.

Paddy Power raised its full-year profit targets by nearly 10 percent to €68 million and declared an interim payout of 16 euro cents a share, 70 percent up on a year ago.

Patrick Kennedy, the chief executive at Paddy Power, said: “While the summer weather was poor it was nothing compared to the ‘perfect storm’ experienced by many punters during the first half of 2007.

“Whether it was in horse racing, soccer, rugby or golf, a stream of apparently unlikely and certaintly lightly backed, results came to pass.

“The ‘luck of the Irish’ was little in evidence with a succession of fancied Irish horses beaten at Cheltenham, Ascot and the Classics.”

Paddy Power said that its gross win percentage at its Irish and UK retail businesses were 14.7 percent and 12.6 percent respectively. The typical gross win — the amount left behind by the customer — has been 12 percent in the past three years.

Operating profits in Paddy Power’s Irish business almost tripled to €22.5 million and the group added that its fast-growing UK retail chain had moved into the black for the first time.

The total amount staked by customers in the first six months totalled nearly €1 billion, compared with €878 million in the first half a year ago.