Gambling giant Flutter sees strong start to 2021 despite massive profit drop
Flutter Entertainment said this morning that pre-tax profits fell sharply in 2020 but the company has started the new year with strong momentum.
The Paddy Power owners saw group revenue soar to £4.3bn in 2020, compared to £2.1bn the previous year.
Profit before tax dropped to £1m compared to £136m in 2019, a 99 per cent year-on-year fall.
Peter Jackson, CEO of Flutter Entertainment, hailed a resilient year for the firm.
“We delivered a very strong financial performance in 2020, benefiting from our scale and diversification,” Jackson said.
“We continue to grow our recreational player base across all key regions, in Q4 alone the Group had over 7.6m monthly online players.”
Board revamp
Flutter appointed Nancy Dubuc as a non-executive director last week as part of a boardroom shake-up aimed at redressing the company’s gender balance.
Dubuc, a media industry veteran, has led youth-oriented Vice Media since 2018 and served as chief executive of A&E Television Networks.
The FTSE 100 gambling firm also snapped up British American Tobacco director Holly Keoppel.
The appointments are a boost for female representation on the FTSE boards, which has risen by 50 per cent since 2015.