France's Euro win hits Ladbrokes

England were not the only poor Euro 2000 performers

The Euro 2000 football victory by favourites France has been blamed for sending profits at Ladbrokes lower.

Parent company Hilton Group, said its bookmaking chain had put in a worse than expected performance during the six months to 30 June.

During the period the group had invested heavily in expanding Ladborkes' presence online.

But it had also gained lower profits than it had expected during the Euro 2000 football championship held in Holland and Belgium this summer.

New chief executive David Michels said that group profits had been hit by the cost of relaunching its Hilton brand in the UK.

Other reasons were "the need to invest in internet and other technologies across our business and the fact that our betting customers guessed right more than usual in June and during Euro 2000".

Hilton said pre-tax profits in the six months to 30 June fell to £108.8m from £117.6m.

Hilton said the hotel division gained from strong performances in Europe where underlying profits growth was 7.9%.

But Ladbrokes betting and gaming profits fell 19% to £51.3m.

In addition to the Euro 2000 hit, Ladbrokes was said to have suffered from a reduction in high roller activity in Gibraltar and e-commerce investment and development costs.

Underlying trading margins were said to have improved despite the poor results in June from race meetings and the Euro 2000 football championships.

Mr Michels said the web site run in partnership with the US Hilton hotels chain, hilton.com, accounted for 4% of bookings.

The group's LivingWell health and fitness division has more than 100,000 members - an 18% increase on last year.

It said another 10 clubs were to open in the UK by the end of next year.