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Paddy Power Betfair counts the cost of Donald Trump's election win

Bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair is counting the cost of the US election result after Donald Trump's surprise victory cost it £5m.

The group said the overall impact of "customer-friendly results" in the fourth quarter - also including football scores over Christmas - was £40m.

Paddy Power (EUREX: 27913021.EX - news) had already paid out $1m (£800,000) to punters who backed Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the poll, in the belief that Mr Trump's rival was a certainty for the White House.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) fell 4.4% on the latest update by the close of trading on Monday.

The group was the latest bookmaker to flag a period during December when Premier League results such as Chelsea's string of victories dented income.

Revenue for the three months to the end of December was up 10% to £388m compared to the same period a year ago, though flat when stripping out currency impacts including the weak pound.

For the full-year it was up 18% to £1.5bn or by 11% on a constant currency basis.

The group said full-year earnings were still expected to be in line with previous guidance despite the squeeze on margins in November and December.

It said since its last trading update, it continued to see good growth in stakes placed on sports bets but that "results favoured customers".

"This started with the unexpected US election outcome, which cost the group almost £5m, and concluded with our European sportsbooks losing money on football bets in the month of December.

"We estimate that the impact on group revenue from the customer-friendly results, before any benefit from the re-cycling of winnings, was approximately £40m in the quarter."

Betting shop operator Paddy Power completed a merger with online bookmaker Betfair last year.

The group operates more than 600 Paddy Power shops in the UK and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) and also has online operations in the UK, Europe, Australia and the US.