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Hilton to Add Ladbrokes to Compete With William Hill
Published: 2005-04-29
 Hilton to Add Ladbrokes to Compete With William Hill (Update5)
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Hilton Group Plc, owner of the Ladbrokes betting-shop chain, plans to open at least 200 outlets in the U.K. to maintain its lead over William Hill Plc, Chief Executive David Michels said.
William Hill is in talks to buy 600 U.K. betting shops from Stanley Leisure Plc for more than 500 million pounds ($952.6 million) to create a chain with about 2,200. Ladbrokes, which owns 1,921 outlets in the U.K., aims to match that number by the end of next year, Michels said in an interview April 27.
``I'm not unhappy about being No. 2 by numbers, but I would be unhappy about being No. 2 by profits,'' Michels said from Hilton's headquarters in Watford, England. ``We believe the maximum number we could have without attracting attention from regulators is 2,200.''
Ladbrokes is Hilton's fastest-growing business and helped cushion earnings when the company's lodging unit, which runs all the 403 Hilton hotels outside the U.S., lost customers after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Ladbrokes's operating profit rose 28 percent last year, while William Hill's gained 16 percent.
London-based William Hill earlier this month postponed a plan to return money to investors to consider buying Stanley Leisure's bookmaking business after the U.K. government limited opportunities to expand into casinos. The government cut the number of Las Vegas-style super-casinos that will be allowed in Britain to one from eight.
Less Stringent Rules
Ladbrokes may expand further in Europe as the business reaches 2,200 outlets in the U.K. and governments relax gambling laws, Michels said. Outside the U.K., Ladbrokes, the world's largest chain of bookmakers, has Irish and Belgian betting shops.
Michels, 58, also said there is no reason at present to spin off Ladbrokes. He has long resisted calls from investors to split Hilton in two. That may change in five to 10 years, he said.
``It's arguable that the company is slightly stronger together than if it were split,'' Michels said. ``If an offer for either business was made, or some form of merger, or some new opportunity came that made commercial sense, then it may be possible. I'd say in 10 years the companies won't be together for sure.''
The cost of splitting the company in two is also a deterrent, Michels said, citing the example of the 109 million pounds the now- defunct Six Continents Plc spent in 2003 to divide pub operator Mitchells & Butlers Plc from Hilton's competitor, InterContinental Hotels Group Plc.
Marketing Alliance
Hilton shares have increased 9.7 percent in the past year. They climbed 2.75 pence, or 1 percent, to 273.5 pence in London today, giving the company a market value of 4.31 billion pounds.
Shares of Windsor, England-based InterContinental, the world's largest hotelier, have risen 16 percent in the past year and Liverpool-based Stanley Leisure has gained 6.4 percent, while William Hill is almost unchanged. The 19-member FTSE 350 Leisure & Hotels Index, to which all three companies and Hilton belong, has added 8.8 percent.
Hilton traces its roots back to the village of Ladbroke in central England, where a local racehorse trainer set up a partnership in 1886 to take bets on races.
The partnership that developed into Ladbrokes bought three hotels in 1973, an operation it had expanded into a 160-strong lodging chain by 1995. Ladbrokes formed a marketing alliance with Beverly Hills, California-based Hilton Hotels Corp. in 1997 so it could operate its own hotels under the Hilton brand.
London Metropole
Michels, an enthusiastic poker and tennis player, received an 81 percent pay increase last year after net income more than doubled and the company's shares rose 27 percent. His total compensation climbed to 1.87 million pounds from 1.03 million pounds in 2003.
Hilton's hotel chain, which includes the Hilton London Metropole, is in the second year of a recovery in the global lodging industry. Operating profit at the business slumped 31 percent in 2003, when the war in Iraq and an outbreak of the deadly SARS virus in Asia damped demand for foreign travel. Profit at the division, which operates 400 properties, rose 17 percent to 171.3 million pounds last year on that basis.
Global tourism increased last year at the fastest pace in 20 years. The number of people visiting another country climbed 10 percent in 2004, and tourist visits probably will gain about 5 percent this year, the World Tourism Organization has said.
Record Profitability?
Hilton's revenue per room, a measure of profitability for the hotel industry, may reach the 2001 peak next year, Michels predicted. Revenue per room was 50.90 pounds in the first half of 2001, the last reporting period before the terrorist attacks, and had slumped to 41.44 pounds by the end of 2003.
``The interesting thing for us is whether the next peak in 2006 will be higher than the one in 2001,'' he said. ``Every peak in the cycle since the Second World War has been higher than the previous peak.''
Hilton plans to open and manage 21 hotels this year, including properties in China, the Philippines, and Barbados. While InterContinental will double the 44 hotels it manages in China in three years, Hilton will hold back on expansion in the world's fastest-growing economy until the lodging market becomes more profitable, Michels said.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Gabrielle Monaghan in Dublin at monaghan@bloomberg.net;
Rishaad Salamat in London at rishaad@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 29, 2005 12:02 EDT
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PokerBook Launches New Website Distribution Source
Published: 2005-04-29
 PokerBook Launches New Website
Distribution Source : Market Wire
Date : Friday - April 29, 2005
HOLLYWOOD, FL -- (Market Wire - Apr 29, 2005) -- PokerBook Gaming Corporation. (OTC: POKG), a gaming software company and sponsor of the PokerBook Charity Tour, is pleased to announce the launch of its new website, www.pokerbook.com.
"This marks the first step of our 'coming out party' as we launch PokerBook. We are also very excited about the development of PB25, PokerBook's proprietary poker software," said CEO Jay Patel. "PB25, representing the latest generation of poker software, will be unveiled to poker players and fans within the next few days. It's extremely user friendly, reliable, and requires no downloads, so there are no virus or firewall issues to worry about."
PokerBook Gaming Corporation, a subsidiary of Senticore, Inc. (OTC BB: SNIO), is a gaming software company. Together the two companies are sponsoring the PokerBook Charity Tour to benefit established, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporations. The Tour is set to kick off with its first large scale online charity poker tournament to support the children victimized by the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia last December. Additional information may be found on the corporate website www.pokerbook.com.
Senticore, Inc., a publicly traded holding company, acquired majority interest in PokerBook Gaming Corp. of Orlando, Fla. in December of 2004. During the past six months, PokerBook programmers have completely redesigned the software, website, and business plan to aggressively introduce their poker software product to the world.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain of the statements contained herein, which are not of historical facts, are forward-looking statements with respect to events, the occurrence of which involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by various factors. Information concerning potential factors that could affect the Company is detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT:
Investor Relations:
Gilbert Emerson
(954) 927-0866
Broker Relations:
Worldwide Financial Marketing
(866) 360-9998
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