Betfred completes Tote overhaul
BOOKMAKER Betfred has completed the transformation of the Tote bookmaking business acquired back in July.
Finance director Bary Nightingale told TheBusinessDesk.com that all of the 1,350 stores in its estate have been – barring 25 which the firm has offered to sell to allay any competition concerns.
He added that the company had also completed its integration of the central support teams in both organisations, and that the amount of job losses had actually been lower than the 150 anticipated after its £265m purchase of the business from the Government.
The Tote’s call centre, Tote Pool and its IT support teams remain at its existing Wigan base, but the remainder of the staff employed there have now transferred to Betfred’s headquarters at Birchwood, Warrington.
“Some great opportunities have been created and there are a lot of plans now afoot,” said Nightingale. “We’re going to increase our investment in our IT capability and equipment to help embark on a rollout of new products.”
He said it was too early to discuss some of the plans, but said the spend would focus on “developing our offer for Betfred and Totepool customers, and bringing new products to market.”
Newly-filed accounts for the Tote Bookmakers business during its last year as an independent entity show that it grew sales to March 31, 2011 by 2.4% to £2.26bn (2010: £2.2bn), although profits before the levy it paid to the racing industry dropped dropped 24% to £12.2m.
The reduced profit was due to higher levels of investment in the business, which saw it unveiling new tills, shop displays, gaming machines and security systems as it took advantage of technology allowing multiple broadband connections to its sites.
The company said the new systems helped it to slow the annual rate of decline at its traditional, over-the-counter betting business from 9.9% to 3.3% and an improvement in margins despite some punter-friendly results at key sporting events.
It also allowed for a more rapid change to video gaming machines in stores to keep them up to date, which led to its Videobet business achieving growth of 6.4% (0.4%). By the year end, its machines were achieving an average weekly profit of £680 – up £48 on the prior year.
Mr Nightingale said Betfred was “very pleased” with the Tote’s ongoing performance since its acquisition despite the difficult economic circumstances.
“We’ve also been very pleased with the team we acquired,” he said, adding that it had changed procedures which gave staff more freedom over the products being offered to customers.
