Liverpool betting group Stanleybet reports £10.9m losses and cuts jobs after punters betting on Premier League matches cash in. Tony McDonough reports
People betting on Premier League football matches have pushed Liverpool betting group Stanleybet into the red with the company having to cut a number of jobs.
And the company, based at the Plaza in St Paul’s Square, has secured a £1.22m loan from its owner Dr Giovanni Garrisi. He has waived his right to repayment for a period of one year.
Stanleybet has just posted its annual accounts for the 12 months to December 31, 2023, on Companies House. All the figures quoted in the accounts are in euros and LBN has converted to sterling at current exchange rates.
It operates around 2,000 betting shops across the UK and in other European countries and is a major player in the heavily regulated European betting market.
These latest accounts show a 6.5% fall in revenues to £67.7m and pre-tax losses of £10.9m against a pre-tax profit of £1.95m in 2022. It paid total dividends of £1.12m. Punters staked around £701m in bets during the year, a rise of £48m.
However, a number of Premier League football match results went in favour of those placing bets during the 12-month period leading to Stanley bet having to pay out significant winnings.
At the end of the reporting period Stanleybet’s cash reserves had plummeted from more than £8m at the end of 2022 to just over £1.9m. Its net liabilities at the end of the year stood at £5.3m.
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Writing in the accounts, director Thomas Green said: “In response to the decrease in cash reserves the shareholder made available a facility at group level. Additionally, a range of actions were taken to reduce the cost base.”
These measures included closing its loss-making operations in Cyprus and Spain as well as “significantly reducing the number of employees across the group in early 2024”.
Mr Green added: “These changes, combined with more bookmaker-friendly football results during 2024, have, as at the date of this report, seen an improvement in the financial strength of the group and the level of cash available.”