Rank reports good start to fiscal 2015

Online and land gambling firm Rank Group plc and posted its interim management statement for the 15 weeks to 11 October 2015, with CEO Henry Birch commenting:

“The Group has had a good start to the financial year. We are seeing a continued strong performance from our Grosvenor Casinos brand, particularly in its digital channel and London casinos, as well as an improving admissions trend in our Mecca venues combined with good growth in Mecca’s digital business.”

Birch says that the company continues to work on five strategic priorities, with the development of a new digital platform on track for launch in Q1 2016 at the top of the list.

“Venues revenue growth has been driven by a combination of increased admissions, staking levels and an improved win margin,” Birch revealed, noting that London has seen strong growth in revenue, up 19 percent compared to 6 percent in the provinces.

“VIP activity in London has helped drive a strong win margin in the period, up by over two percentage points on last year’s equivalent win margin. We are pleased to see good growth in our provincial clubs, with increased staking levels and good slots growth driving a 6 percent increase in revenue,” Birch reported.

“Grosvenor digital revenues increased 56 percent in the period driven by improvements in VIP management, continued growth in our customer base following cross-sell from our venues and strong growth from our mobile products.

“Venues like-for-like revenue grew by 2 percent with an increase in spend per visit offset by a reduction in customer visits, although the rate of decline in admissions has continued to slow (1 percent versus the 3 percent seen for the whole of 2014/15). Total revenues fell by 2 percent following the closure of a number of clubs in the last 12 months.

Birch reports that Digital revenues in the 15-week period rose by 10 percent, with mobile accounting for over 50 percent of revenue in recent months.