Sportsbook Guardian Comments After Rises for Sports Betting Companies Ladbrokes, and William Hill

London, United Kingdom, May 03, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Ladbrokes and William Hill shares have recently enjoyed a considerable rise, buoyed by a positive target price increase from Investment company Exane BNP Paribas. Exane BNP Paribas (a partnership between BNP Paribas and Exane) specialises in cash equities, derivatives and asset management. The French based firm have been bullish in regards to the betting industry and have upped the target price for four of the leading shares in the internet gambling sector.

As well as Exane BNP Paribas issuing a positive prognosis for the sector, betting industry experts Sportsbook Guardian have reported positive website traffic increases for their sports betting website, with traffic significantly peaking in the same Q1 period. Company spokesperson Chris Denny said: “Sportsbook Guardian’s website traffic has increased by almost 80% in the busy spring period. Of the bookmakers we regularly speak with, at least three have indicated that they are acquiring trading staff to compensate for the upturn.”

The four target price increases from Exane BNP Paribas include the UK’s two leading retail (and online bookmakers) William Hill and Ladbrokes, as well as Sportsbook/poker giant bwin.party and the leading betting exchange Betfair.com.

Exane BNP Paribas raised Ladbrokes (LAD.L) by 13% to 170p, upped William Hill (WMH.L) by 9% to a target of 255p, Bwin.Party (BPTY.L) was tipped to go up 2pc to 210p and lastly Betfair (BETF.L) was also recommended as an outperform and predicted to grow in value by 5% to £10.50.

Amid positive market conditions for the betting sector the analyst upgrade has helped two of the four operators to a monthly rise on the stock market, bwin.party and Betfair.com have fallen slightly in this same time period.

Calculating the last month’s price graphs the monthly price changes show as follows:
Ladbrokes +9.27%
William Hill +5.4%
Bwin.Party -4.64%
Betfair – 6.95%

William Hill have announced a very healthy Q1 revenue increase, reporting a growth of 12%, in what is traditionally a lucrative time period for bookmakers due to it comprising the Cheltenham Festival, Grand National, and the concluding matches of the Premier League. William Hill CEO Ralph Topping reported that the firm had a “very good” Grand National and Cheltenham Festival. Results from the two biggest jumps festivals very much went for the bookmakers after a string of short favourites such as Hurricane Fly, Sizing Europe and Long Run all lost at Cheltenham, and the heavily backed Synchronised failed to oblige for Champion Jockey Tony McCoy in the Grand National.

Ladbrokes witnessed their shares touch 180p at the end of last week, they also saw an increase in betting revenue, with figures up 9%. The company is still enacting the policies of the relatively new CEO Richard Glynn who recently said: “We have an awful lot more to do, but its steady, pleasing progress,” adding “We are having to invest heavily. You will see the revenue uptick in the second-half of this year.”

Despite the Exane BNP Paribas prediction Betfair’s stock diminished by 8.89%, and bwin.party fell by 4.64% (both on a monthly basis).

About SportsbookGuardian.com:
Sportsbookguardian.com is a leading online sports betting review site and operates as a brand of the GamblingGuardian.com suite of websites.

Gamblingguardian.com offers reviews, news and gambling strategy across poker, casino, sportsbook, bingo and spread betting.