William Hill's World Cup cheer helps earnings creep up

England fans who put their money where their mouths were during the World Cup now know better.

High street bookie William Hill is hoping amnesia will strike next time around after announcing a solid set of profits that are partly thanks to fans backing the wrong teams.

The company, which has more than 2,300 betting shops in Britain and Ireland, saw profit edge up 1% to £135 million in the half year. The City thinks this is not bad considering pressures from the group's online rivals.

William Hill, which takes more than one million bets a day, said this was its best World Cup, generating a gross win of £32.2 million for the tournament.

But football was offset by some bad odds-setting at the Grand National and Royal Ascot when punters cashed in - William Hill even made a loss at Ascot in June.

Turnover was up 12% to £8.6 billion and the online arm saw revenue up 24% to £124 million.

Chief executive Ralph Topping said he doubted whether the planned merger between PartyGaming and bwin would spark the wave of takeover activity analysts have anticipated.