Rank Group revenue for the 16 weeks to 16 October 2011 was in line with the same period last year. There was strong growth from online and mobile gaming, but continued weakness from operations in Spain. Grosvenor Casinos sustained growth in customer visits but a lower win margin in its London venues held back revenue growth. In Mecca Bingo, like-for-like revenue was in line with the comparable period last year.
Earlier this year Rank set out its plans to expand and enhance the Grosvenor casinos estate to 45 UK venues by 2015. The latest addition to the Grosvenor portfolio opened earlier this month in Stockton-on-Tees. Strong trading in Grosvenor’s provincial casinos was offset by a drop in revenue from the London casinos where win margin fell by nearly 3 percentage points compared with the same 16-week period last year. For the 42 week period revenue was up by 3%.
Mecca Bingo like-for-like revenue was in-line with the same 16-week period last year with a 2% increase in spend per visit offsetting a 3% decline in customer visits. Total revenue growth was slightly lower than last year as a result of the closure of a small number of underperforming clubs. For the 42 weeks, revenue was up 1% while like-for like revenue was up 2%. Rank currently operates 99 clubs across Great Britain.
Difficult economic conditions and the effect of the full smoking ban continued to affect trading in the Spanish business, Top Rank España. Revenue in the 16-week period was 19% down on the same period last year in Sterling (a 20% decline in euro). Customer visits were down by 11% and spend per visit was down 9%.
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For the 42 weeks, like-for-like and total revenue was down by 19%. During the period, Rank re-launched one of its clubs in Madrid as part of a wider programme of modernisation.
Rank Interactive grew revenue by 21% in the 16-week period due to the continued strong performance of Meccabingo.com. For the 42 week period, revenue rose by 23% as a result of continued investment in the Group’s brands. The business has achieved particularly strong growth in mobile gaming with revenues nearly trebling compared with the same period last year. Mobile gaming now accounts for 6% of Rank Interactive’s revenue.
The Rank Board is encouraged by the increasing popularity of the Group’s UK brands, with operational improvements driving growth in customers across Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo. While the outlook for the UK consumer in 2012 seems likely to be more challenging, Rank is in a strong financial position, possesses market-leading brands with multi-channel distribution and has a clear strategy for sustained long-term growth. (E-10.21.11)
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