William Hill, the bookmaker, is to scale back its share buyback programme to boost investment in expanding its business in the UK and internationally.

The company, which has spent £257 million buying back shares since July 2005, said that it now expected to return less than the £100 million forecast this year by analysts. David Harding, the chief executive, said it was simply a case of “having better things to do with our money”, although he insisted: “We’re never going to hoard our capital.”

Mr Harding said the group would exploit the opportunities provided by the opening up of the Italian and Spanish betting markets, while in the UK it would continue to acquire more shops. It now has 2,165 and has retaken the lead from Ladbrokes, with 2,142, as Britain’s biggest bookmaker.

Analysts said it was important for William Hill to drive growth now that the integration benefits of the Stanley Leisure acquisition almost two years ago had washed through.

The strong performance of the former Stanley shops, allied to a good World Cup, helped William Hill to deliver a 19 per cent jump in profits before tax, exceptionals and finance charges to £292.2 million in the year to December 26, from a gross win — the amount left behind by punters — up from £807.7 million to £931.3 million.

Like-for-like gross win in its existing shops rose by 6 per cent, although after excluding growth from fixed-odds betting terminals and other machine income, the so-called over-the-counter gross win was flat. Retail profits rose by 24 per cent to £225.9 million.

Mr Harding said: “We had a volatile year. There were weekends when we seemed to take a bath and others where we kept the money.”

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