Quote Message: The proposals from the Competition Authority are actually less onerous than many had feared, with up to a thousand shops having been mooted as ripe for closure as part of the merger. Ladbrokes and Coral now have a couple of weeks to decide if they want to jump or not. The merger between Ladbrokes and Coral could create a huge opportunity for the group, if they can execute it properly. The combined company would have a dominant retail position, even if many shops have to be sold off. We expect substantial cost saving will be possible because there will be vast areas of overlap, and unnecessary duplication of functions across the businesses. from Steve Clayton Hargreaves Lansdown's head of equity research

The proposals from the Competition Authority are actually less onerous than many had feared, with up to a thousand shops having been mooted as ripe for closure as part of the merger. Ladbrokes and Coral now have a couple of weeks to decide if they want to jump or not. The merger between Ladbrokes and Coral could create a huge opportunity for the group, if they can execute it properly. The combined company would have a dominant retail position, even if many shops have to be sold off. We expect substantial cost saving will be possible because there will be vast areas of overlap, and unnecessary duplication of functions across the businesses.