William Hill profits down 10%

BOOKMAKER chain William Hill has seen profits fall by ten per cent and said it had lost out to more winning customers in recent weeks.

The firm, which operates a number of branches in Edinburgh, saw profit before finance charges and exceptional items fall ten per cent to £145.1m in the 26 weeks to July 1.

It said the decline was largely attributable to the costs of signing up to buy Turf TV's live horse racing feeds and a "disappointing" performance from the group's telephone division.

In the four weeks to July 29, the firm's gross win was down by one per cent, mainly because of a number of poor horse racing results.

Charles Scott, Wlliam Hill's chairman, said: "The group has continued to make progress during the first half of the year with results in line with expectations."