A RECORD number of Cheltenham winners hit bookmaker Ladbrokes Irish profits, but the British-based group said yesterday that its business here grew in the first half of the year.

Ladbrokes, which operates betting shops and internet and telephone betting businesses in Britain, Ireland, Belgium and Spain, yesterday reported that pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year were down 30 per cent to £72 million from £105 million in 2010.

Operating profits in its Irish business fell by a third to £3.8 million from £5.7 million during the same period in 2010.

Ladbrokes blamed the record 13 Irish-trained winners at the Cheltenham national hunt racing festival in March, and good results for Irish-trained runners at the flat equivalent, Royal Ascot, for the hit to the profits it earned here.

The group won £39.8 million from its Irish punters in the first half of this year, down 3.4 per cent on the same period in 2010. It also had a £400,000 increase in operating costs.

However, its figures show that the Irish business, which includes 294 betting shops, expanded.

Ladbrokes has eight new shops, following the purchase of 10 from the Bruce Betting chain, the opening of one new premises and the closure of three others.

The amount staked by its Irish customers in the first six months of the year grew by over 9 per cent to £382.5 million. The over-the-counter share of this was £308 million, up 5.3 per cent.

Overall net revenues were down more than 3 per cent at £483.1 million in the first half of the year.