Retail split narrows for Betfred as 2025/26 turnover hits £995.6m

Betfred last week reported its turnover for the 2025/26 financial year hit £995.6 million, according to its latest Companies House filing, down from £1.5 billion in the previous period, although the flagged financial year periods are not accurately comparable.

The reported period covered the 52 weeks ended 29 March 2026, while the comparative period in 2025 was 78 weeks to 30 March 2025. Betfred said that, last year, it had changed its year-end date from September to March.

Retail operations accounted for 55% of the total turnover for the 12-month period, while online made up 45% of group turnover. In the previous year retail accounted for 61% of overall turnover, meaning the split between verticals has narrowed.

Taking this difference into account, the report said group turnover had increased £23.3 million on a like-for-like basis for the 12-month period.

This was in part due to an increase in marketing expenses “to increase market share and attract new customers”, the report said.

Betfred incurs ‘aborted acquisition costs’

Gross profit for the 52-week period was £719.9 million, while operating profit hit £74.1 million, which included a one-off charge of £4.6 million in “aborted acquisition costs”, the report said. EBITDA for the period was £140.6 million.

Within the report, management said it would not present a geographical split of its earnings for the period, as they believed this would be “severely prejudicial to the interests of the group”.

In terms of expenses for the financial year, Betfred reported exceptional charges had reached £7.1 million, including an aborted acquisition, and a charge of £801,000 relating to closure costs of a foreign subsidiary, relating to the group’s US business, which it wound down during its 2023-24 financial year.

In the report, Betfred confirmed it had disposed of its Spanish online business in 2024, and had made a £1.6 million profit from the move.

It said employee costs had increased by £19.2 million on a like-for-like basis, due to an increase in the national minimum wage, despite the number of employees decreasing during the 12 months.

The number of employees decreased slightly to 7,795, from 7,872 in the previous year.

The reported period does not include the increased Remote Gaming Duty in the UK, which came into force in April of this year. Overall, the company paid less in tax contributions during the 2025/26 period than the previous. Its tax bill hit £24.4 million, compared to £59.8 million the year before. But the report included unrecognised deferred tax assets of up to £7 million.

Betfred founder Fred Done has been extremely vocal about the expected impact of various UK gambling tax increases that are expected to be incurred, including the pending remote betting tax in April 2027 and a possible increase in Machine Gaming Duty, which could be announced in the government’s upcoming autumn budget.

Done told the Financial Times recently that doubling MGD would lead to Betfred closing 495 of its shops within a year, resulting in the loss of 2,575 jobs and roughly £67 million in foregone tax revenue for the Exchequer.

In August, the operator said it was considering closing up to 132 bookies in the UK, as part of a consultation to mitigate the impact of UK gambling tax hikes.