British bookmaker William Hill announced a £200 million share buyback and hiked its full-year dividend, despite a fall in profit for the year.

The company said it intended to pay about half of its adjusted earnings in dividends to shareholders going forward, from about 40 per cent earlier.

William Hill said its operating profit for 2015 fell 22 per cent to £291.4 million pounds, hurt by increased taxes on its UK online and retail units.