By Fatma Younis
Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, has slashed its full-year guidance after reporting a quarterly net loss of $1.15 billion (£840 million) for the three months ended September, widening from a $789 million loss a year earlier. The New York-listed gambling giant attributed the deterioration to higher UK gambling taxes, punter-friendly football results, and Brazil's betting ban.
Quarterly Results Hit by Taxes and Sports Outcomes
The group's international division, which includes the UK, saw underlying earnings drop 14% to $435 million (£320.4 million) in the third quarter. Profit margins were squeezed by the UK government's increase of remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% in last year's autumn budget. Unfavourable sports results and the closure of operations in Brazil further weighed on performance.
Revised Full-Year Guidance
Flutter now expects full-year underlying earnings to fall by 12% to $2.5 billion (£1.82 billion) and sales to rise by 7% to $17.61 billion (£12.84 billion). This represents a reduction of $160 million (£118 million) in earnings guidance and $300 million (£220 million) in sales guidance from previous forecasts. The company said the updated outlook includes the impact of sports results and the Brazil closure, partially offset by cost mitigation actions.
Job Cuts and Restructuring
Last month Flutter announced plans to cut around 1,400 jobs in the UK and Ireland, representing 15% of its 9,000-strong workforce in the division. The restructuring affects staff in Leeds and Dublin, as well as UK and Ireland employees based at hubs in Porto, Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The job cuts follow the remote gaming duty increase but precede the government's October 31 budget move to raise machine games duty from 20% to 25% from April next year.
New CEO Outlines Priorities
Dan Taylor, who became chief executive at the start of October, said the company's priorities are to build on its US leadership, capture the prediction markets opportunity, unlock more value from its international portfolio, and simplify operations. He emphasized that delivering on these priorities will require faster execution, tough decisions, and disciplined investment, expressing confidence that the actions will make Flutter a stronger business in the long term.
