Bookmaker Paddy Power has reported a 15 per cent decline in pretax profits for fiscal 2009 to €67.2 million.
This compares to pretax profits of €79 million a year earlier.
Paddy Power said operating profit declined by 12 per cent over the year from €75.7 million to €66.7 million while gross profit rose 2 per cent from €253 million in 2008 to €258 million last year.
Total amounts staked by customers rose 31 per cent last year from €2.1 billion to €2.75 billion.
"Despite the economic problems, 2009 was a cracking year for Paddy Power punters on two fronts. The year saw a slew of punter-friendly sporting results which was the exact opposite to the experience of the prior year," said the group's chief executive Patrick Kennedy.
"Also, Paddy Power once again invested heavily in bringing unsurpassed value to our customers through a range of ‘stand out’ offers. This focus on value saw the Group drive up turnover and enhance market share across all channels by competing aggressively and attracting and retaining a record number of customers," he added.
The bookmaker said its market share in Ireland rose from 26 per cent to 32 per cent over the year but operating profits at its Irish division fell to €16.3 million from €28.3 million.
During 2009 the group completed its acquisitions of Sportsbet and IAS in Australia, and opened 25 new shops in the UK and seven in Ireland.
Paddy Power said it is proposing to increase the final dividend by 10 per cent to 38.9 cent per share. Further to the 5 per cent increase in the interim dividend, this would bring the total dividend in respect of 2009 to €28 million or 58.4 cent per share, an increase of 8 per cent on the 54 cent per share paid in respect of 2008.
The company said that trading in the year to date has been satisfactory and that while adverse weather in January had led to racing cancellations and impacted turnover, this had been offset by favourable sports results.
