Paddy Power Share Discussion Threads

[m.t.glass] 23/2/2005 10:09

Paddy Power's online gamble paying off
Bill Condie, Evening Standard
23 February 2005
10:10am

SALES at Irish bookie Paddy Power have broken the €1bn level for the first time in 2004 as punters turn increasingly to the firm's emerging internet service to gamble.

'While all strands of the business performed well, I am particularly pleased that the online business has come of age,' chief executive John O'Reilly said.

Paddy Power has moved from its traditional business as a small-stake bookmaker into non-bookmaking activities through the online casino, fixed odds betting games and peer-to-peer games.

It has also introduced fixed odds betting terminals in its UK shops, which have seen a big expansion to 31 from 12 at the end of 2003. It expects to have between 45 and 50 outlets by the end of this year.

But the company's online operations are its fastest-moving division with Paddy Power adding several new products. These include the Paddy Power Casino, launched in the UK early last year and smaller betting game products.

Its net profit rose 56% to €27.5m (£18.4m) on turnover of €1.16bn compared with €913.6m this time last year.

[m.t.glass] 23/2/2005 07:59

Paddy Power plc, trading as Paddy Power Bookmaker, Ireland's leading bookmaker,
today announced record turnover, operating profit and earnings per share for the
year ended 31 December 2004.



Turnover up 27.5%
Operating Profit up 58.6%
Profit Before Tax up 57.5%
Profit After Tax up 56.6%
EPS up 53.1%
Cash Balance up 20.5%
Final Dividend up 45.7%

Commenting on the results, John O'Reilly, Chief Executive, Paddy Power plc said:
'While all strands of the business performed well, I am particularly pleased
that the online business has come of age.'

Ross Ivers, Finance Director, Paddy Power plc said: 'When you have a business
that's producing almost 60% profit growth in the year, you have got to be
happy.'



Paddy Power plc will present preliminary results to analysts at 8.30am on
Wednesday 23 February 2005 at the offices of Investec Bank (UK) Limited, 2
Gresham Street, London,EC2V 7QP with a simultaneous conference call.

To dial in to the presentation and participate in the Q&A session participants
should dial [phone]; to listen only to the presentation
participants should dial [phone].

All conference call participants are required to register in advance with either
Holborn or Drury Communications.

[m.t.glass] 21/2/2005 10:25

Price edging up a tiny bit (on little volume) ahead of Wednesday's results.
We have two gambling companies reporting in two days, both with online poker activities - SBT Tuesday and PAP the following day. Sure to be some ripple effect on all related stocks in this lively sector.

[m.t.glass] 16/2/2005 23:48

8:30am analyst/journo presentations arranged for results day, one week from now, 23 Feb.

[m.t.glass] 16/2/2005 13:09

Sweeney Appointed To Paddy Power Board

from bizplus.ie 16/02/05:

The board of Paddy Power has announced the appointment of Brody Sweeney as a non executive director of the company with immediate effect

Brody is founder and chief executive of O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bars which has over 260 outlets in Ireland, the UK, Europe and Asia.

Fintan Drury, chairman of Paddy Power, said: “As one of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs, Brody brings a depth of expertise which is particularly relevant to Paddy Power.

“Through his successful development of O’Brien’s into the UK, where there are currently 140 outlets, he is in a position to provide important guidance to our geographic expansion in the UK.”

“Brody has a natural empathy with the culture of Paddy Power and the personality of the brand.

“Continued focus on our brand attributes is key moving forward, as the Group grows and expands, and we are confident that Brody will be a very positive influence in this regard.” (16/02/05)




(and the board get free sandwiches...?)

[m.t.glass] 11/2/2005 09:45

Any Sun readers around? I know that Paddy Power often works on special promotions with them. Was wondering if the poker site was included in any latest PP adverts there.

[m.t.glass] 10/2/2005 23:27

The name is confirmed as Paddy Power Poker



and the poker website is


The beauty is that PAP is already an established favourite investors stock, growing at 50%pa and paying a dividend, thriving without poker. Not a flighty new player dependent on the poker craze. Whatever impact this poker facility has will be on top of something that was already worth owning.

[m.t.glass] 10/2/2005 21:52

Here we go!
This from across the pond.
(Casino City Times, MA.)

(would have posted sooner but several advfn threads would not load mid-evening)





Paddy Power Signs with Tribeca Tables
10 February 2005


IRELAND – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Ireland's largest bookmaker Paddy Power has signed an online Poker deal with Tribeca Tables Europe Ltd, and joins Tribeca's other prestigious customers Blue Sq, Victor Chandler, Golden Palace and Doyles Room.

Paddy Power's Breon Corcoran said, "Online poker has been a key requirement for growing Paddy Power's portfolio of online gaming products and after a detailed study of what product is best suited to Paddy Power and our customers, we decided to launch with Tribeca's poker software. We are confident that our customers will enjoy all the experience and excitement that a poker room brings."

Tribeca Tables Europe Limited is a registered company in the Channel Island of Alderney. Their European MD, Steve Cook said, "Paddy Power has a unique brand in the market and obviously has a very strong presence in both Ireland and Great Britain. Bringing ePoker to their customers is a natural progression of providing more online gaming and leisure activities, and we are very pleased to welcome them into our family of high profile brands. This is further evidence that Tribeca's model of empowering major gaming brands with their own poker operation is highly sought after."

Tribeca Tables, also received an enormous response from International visitors recently when they exhibited at the International Casino Exhibition in London last month. "We were pleased to meet with so many people and were very happy with the results. We would like to thank all those that came by our booth at the show. This year we expect to continue the tremendous growth with our family of brands and already we have a number of hot deals in the pipeline," Steve added.

This Sunday, 13th February at 9.45 GMT also sees the Tribeca Tables network hold their second spectacular guaranteed tournament event of $100,000 prize money in which now all of Paddy Power's new poker players can participate.

Tribeca Tables is the world’s first and largest independent aggregator of ePoker brands.



(Casino City Times)

(also now being (belatedly) repeated in other papers and websites)

Edit: I can't get the tribecatables.com site to open.. but here is a list of the 57 firms they serve

[cat] 10/2/2005 16:54

I bought 2k more today and it went through in 250 bits automatically.

[m.t.glass] 10/2/2005 11:10

Cat - what do you make of those (automated?) 250-size trades that are a regular feature?

Later edit: That was one chunky trade at 1pm today. Around 450k euros.

[cat] 10/2/2005 11:03

curiouser and curiouser

[m.t.glass] 10/2/2005 10:39

There is a "coming soon" message on a website called though it looks like that may be unconnected and purely coincidental, it being set up by trendfund.com (Will PAP buy the name off them if they aren't using it yet? Have trendfund set it up with that in mind?)

[cat] 10/2/2005 10:14

Looks like something positive is going on.
Would not be surprised to see Paddy Poker emerge from this very soon, surfing the on-line poker wave.

[m.t.glass] 10/2/2005 08:57

For anyone who missed the news about Paddy Power's poker proposals, this Times article from a month ago explains

They are dipping a toe in the water at nil risk initially - linking a limited number of their existing clients into casino sites run by others and collecting a percentage, until they see how it goes.

Share price meanwhile seems to have swept past the 1200 level without blinking.
It climbed about 50% last year and a little more than that (54%) the year before.
One of my most reliable longterm holdings.

[cat] 08/2/2005 21:46

lol - you should register that as a t.m. - quick!




interesting, my dear Watson...

[m.t.glass] 08/2/2005 17:25

Will they call it Paddy Poker ?

[cat] 08/2/2005 17:05

could be something to do with the talk they are getting into on-line poker.
Its a hot, hot niche at the moment

[m.t.glass] 08/2/2005 11:06

Nice upward break

[exeng] 03/2/2005 14:00

That sounds right, thanks

[m.t.glass] 03/2/2005 11:44

Currency mismatch? Kleinworts talking in sterling but stock/chart priced in euro?
(if so, multiply Kleinwort numbers by 10/7 roughly)

[exeng] 03/2/2005 11:02

I'm confused by Kleinworts note - their target price is € 11.50 but the price today is €11.76 ! Am I missing something?

[cat] 03/2/2005 10:46

PAP a tip for 2005 from Kleinworts, out today:

Paddy Power is riding high with an impressive historical 5Y EPS CAGR
of 40%, which has driven a 2-year share price rise of 113%. We forecast
a 3-year EPS CAGR of 15%, fuelled by a continued Irish LBO roll-out, an
accelerated UK LBO entry and success online. Whilst the stock is on a
premium rating already, we believe further upside potential is justified.
• Background: Paddy Power is the leading Irish off-track bookmaker, with
over 30% share of the Irish betting market. In addition, the group
operates profitable telephone and Internet divisions, which now
represent around 20% of 2004E group EBIT.
• Impressive track record: The company's impressive 40% EPS CAGR
between 1999-2004E has been fuelled by a combination of factors,
including strong Irish economic growth, favourable changes to gaming
duty and corporation tax rates as well as the group's innovative business
model, continued LBO roll-out and strong performance online.
• Forecasts: We expect this strong growth to continue, although the UK
LBO roll-out programme is unlikely to materially impact profitability until
2006. We forecast 15% EPS CAGR between 2004-07E, excluding
acquisitions and/or potential share buybacks.
• Valuation: Paddy Power's track record and growth prospects, in our
view, justify the current 2005 P/E and EV/EBITDA premium ratings of
17.2x and 10.1x, respectively. Conservative DCF returns €12.20, 15%
upside. Our target price (DCF and multiples) moves from €10.60 to
€11.50. Buy.