William Hill tanks 30% on London Stock Exchange

Bookmaker William Hill’s share price had dropped nearly 30 per cent by late afternoon trade on March 16.

The company released a statement to the press following the drop, which was due to the spread of coronavirus shutting down sporting events across the globe. The company said in light of the spread in the UK and elsewhere, the company’s earnings have already seen an effective 53 per cent drop due to the loss of betting on sporting fixtures.

“While it is too soon to accurately determine the effect, we have considered a number of possible outcomes including, but not limited to: UK and international football resuming in August, the cancellation or postponement until 2021 of the UEFA European Football Championship, UK retail shop closures for one month, the cancellation of the Grand National and Royal Ascot and US sports resuming in time for the new NFL season in September,” the company said.

The company expected to see a potential loss of £100m to £110m over the course of 2020 while football and other sport fixtures are cancelled.

Ulrik Bengtsson, CEO, commented: “These are truly unprecedented times but William Hill has been around for 86 years and over that time we have gained huge experience and understanding of our customers. People want to place sports bets and they will continue to do so where possible. In recent days we have seen betting on horses, greyhounds, international football and our well-stablished virtual sports.

“We are taking action to maintain our operational capability, to secure and enhance our liquidity and to ensure we are in a strong position to resume full operations when the sporting calendar returns to normal.

“We have been quick to initiate our business continuity plans, which have been in place for some weeks, with our colleagues’ and customers’ welfare highest on the agenda. Large parts of the business continue to operate on a ‘business as usual’ basis.”