Digital growth boosts Rank Group quarterly revenue
Rank Group has reported a 2 per cent increase in revenue for the last quarter.
UK.- Rank Group has reported that its revenue was up 2 per cent year-on-year in the quarter ending September 30, mainly due to digital growth. It reported like-for-like net gaming revenue of £165.6m.
Grosvenor Casino’s land-based casino business remained the largest contributor, although its revenue was down 5 per cent year-on-year at £75.3m. Visitor numbers were up but average spend per visit fell, particularly outside of London.
Mecca Bingo generated revenue of £33.3m, up 2 per cent year-on-year. Again, there was a drop in the average spend per visit, but this was offset by an increase in visits. Enracha bingo venues in Spain generated £8.2m, up 24 per cent.
But the big contributor to growth in the last quarter was Rank’s digital business, which saw revenue rise 13 per cent to £48.9m. Grosvenor Casino online revenue rose 25 per cent while Mecca digital revenue was up 1 per cent and other digital revenue was up 23 per cent.
Rank chief executive John O’Reilly said: “It is pleasing to see increasing visits in this new financial year together with strong growth in the digital business, where we are starting to see the benefits of investments in our proprietary technology platform and our cross-channel offering, with encouraging growth in both the UK and Spain.”
Rank noted that customer spending was likely to remain construed by inflationary pressure, but it said it welcomed the UK’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme which it expects will reduce the impact of energy price rises on its costs for the six months until March 2023. It expects energy costs for the current financial year to hit £34m, up from £23m. It said it had taken measures to try to reduce its energy consumption.
O’Reilly added: “Whilst it is a challenging trading environment and we expect this to continue in the months ahead, we remain committed to delivering Rank’s market-leading, exciting and entertaining proposition to our customers.
“The group has a number of key initiatives underway to improve long-term revenues. These include some key refurbishment projects and new electronic roulette and jackpot games in Grosvenor; improving the gaming machine offering in Mecca; increased personalisation and a stronger live casino offering in the UK digital business and the recent launch of Yo Sports in Spain.
“The group has the benefit of a strong balance sheet, enabling us to continue investing in the business through this period.”
Last month, Grosvenor Casino workers in London voted to strike over pay. Grosvenor Casino has around 150 workers across its London casinos. Some 91 per cent of staff have rejected the retention bonus payments of £600 and £800.
