The Telegraph – The smart money is on a gambling machine clampdown as early as this year, according to the bears at JPMorgan Cazenove. Ladbrokes dropped 8.1, or 4.9pc, to 158.6p and William Hill slid 6.6, or 1.8pc, to 355.4p after the broker’s betting experts said Government restrictions on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) were likely to be implemented in the autumn, although moves could be made earlier in 2014. “A reduction in stakes and/or prizes is the most likely outcome, in our view, which could be achieved within existing legislation,” the analysts argued. That in turn could lead to “significant shop closures”, they said, and cut their price target on Ladbrokes to 95p from 140p and their objective on Hill to 340p from 360p. Both are rated “underweight” by the broker.
Lowering the maximum FOBT game stake to £20 from £100 might see machine revenue fall by 15pc, the analysts estimated. “This change could make the bottom 20pc of Ladbrokes and William Hill shops loss-making, with a further 20pc only marginally profitable, and require significant restructuring to close shops in order to cut costs.” Ladbrokes, they said, would be hardest hit by a crackdown on FOBTs because it has greater exposure. If maximum stakes were cut to £20, then the JPMorgan experts saw their 2015 earnings-per-share forecast dropping by 39pc.
The FTSE 100 closed down 2.47 points at 6,834.26, a modest fall that masked what was a volatile trading session for the benchmark index that saw the blue-chips flirt with a 14-year high. The Footsie climbed to 6,867.42 before falls on Wall Street dragged the blue-chip index as low as 6,822.31. Had the premier index held on to its gains, it would have recorded its highest close since December 30, 1999.
Product testing and inspection group Intertek, among the best-performing FTSE 100 shares with a gain of 92p to £30.00, was lifted by encouraging full-year results from Swiss peer SGS. Renewed talk that Standard Chartered is a takeover target helped the Asia-focused bank add 30p to £13.58.
