Rank Releases Positive Trading Update While Calling for Reforms
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:Rank Group, a gambling operator located in the UK, has said that it is confident about its full year expectations but, at the same time emphasized the urgent need for the industry to implement modernizing reforms.
A few months ago, Rank’s Director of Public Affairs, David Williams, said that “progress cannot come a moment too soon” for the casino industry in relation to the reforms put forward in the white paper.
Rank Group Revenue Grows
The company’s latest comments were made in a short trading update for the first quarter ending September 30, 2023. The update revealed that the company has increased its revenue by 11% to £179.6 million.
In the same period, the operator’s digital arm saw revenue grow 7% to £51.8 million, with UK and Swedish operations up 6% and 15%, respectively. Within the UK, the Grosvenor and Mecca brands saw increases of 14% and 9%, respectively.
Overall, the group's venues division has seen a 12% increase across the Grosvenor, Mecca, and Enracha operations. Grosvenor ended the quarter with revenues at £84.2 million, a 13% increase, largely influenced by a nine percent increase in visits. Customer spending per visit also increased by 4%. Regionally, facilities in London and other parts of the UK saw 8% and 16% increases, respectively. The average weekly NGR settled at £6.4 million, marking a 10% year-on-year increase.
Related: Rank Group Gets New Chief Financial Officer
Bingo Revenues Continue to Surge
In other developments, Rank stated that its bingo club network had an 11% revenue increase to £34.7 million. This was due to customer visits and spending going up by 4% and 7%, respectively. Enracha, the group's Spanish bingo operation, reportedly had a "continued strong NGR growth," with revenues hitting £8.9 million, a 9% upswing.
However, the company noted a "challenging" landscape, mainly because of ongoing high inflation and interest rates affecting customer spending. Despite these challenges, the company expressed assurance in achieving full-year revenue and profit growth in line with forecasts.
I am pleased to report that Rank has made a strong start to the year. After an encouraging second half of 2022/23, we have maintained the momentum through the first quarter of 2023/24 and have made good progress in driving revenue and profit growth across the group.
Going forwards, we remain focused on delivering the key growth initiatives within our digital business and preparing our UK venues for the critical modernising reforms in the government’s review of the gambling legislation. These reforms, which are planned to be implemented by next summer, will help Grosvenor and Mecca to better meet the needs of our existing and prospective customers.
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