British gambling giant William Hill is planning to close about 119 betting shops across the country because of decreasing retail footfall. The gambling firm noted this morning that it has witnessed a plunge in its profits for the first half of the year.

William Hill is facing troubles

William Hill recently posted £11.1 million of adjusted loss after tax. The company also reported an impairment charge of £81.9 million following an assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the high street retail cash flows.

It also includes exceptional items that included the net income after the third part costs, interests, and a £201.6 million tax related to the VAT refund for the charges that it incurred on retail gaming machines income. These charges were incurred between 2002 and 2013. The company earned £115.6 million in profit after tax before exceptional items.

The net income of the company for the first six months of 2020 also dropped by 32% and reached £554.4 million from £811.7 million. This happened because of the closure of its stores during the lockdown. This brought down the adjusted loss per share of 1.2 p. Last year, the earnings per share were 5.3 p.

Things look tumultuous

William Hill experienced a very strong first quarter, as its international online business boomed. However, the industry was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic which led to the closure of the company’s US and UK stores. The cancellation or the postponement of sports events also led to a reduction in betting levels overall.

Now that live sports are back, wagering levels have also started coming to normal. However, the company does not expect its retail footfall to be back to pre-coronavirus levels so soon. This is why it has decided to shut down 119 stores after early lease breaks. The company said that it will relocate the majority of affected employees to its other stores.