Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo operator Rank Group has reported its financial results for the 12 months ended 30 June, 2023.
Group underlying like-for-like net gaming revenue (NGR) totalled £679.7m for the year, an increase of 7.3% year-on-year.
Of the total, £476.8m or 70.1% came from the operator’s land-based venues, which showed year-on-year growth of 6.1% across the portfolio.
Meanwhile, digital revenue came in at £202.9m, representing the remaining 29.9% of group revenue and demonstrating year-on-year growth of 10.4%.
Revenue across all of Rank’s digital brands was up across both the UK and Spain.
The Grosvenor Casino chain of venues continued to be the highest earning business segment for Rank, as it generated 45.1% of group revenue, or £306.3m, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%.
The Digital segment generated the next largest amount of revenue at £202.9m, up some 10%, though Rank did not provide a specific breakdown of the growth across each of its digital brands.
Mecca Bingo venues generated a further 19.7% of overall revenue at £134.1m, up 7.5% year-on-year.
Meanwhile the Enracha chain of venues in Spain generated just 5.4% of group revenue at £36.4m, but was the fastest growing business segment for Rank as it saw revenue increase 18.6% year-on-year.
Turn to loss
Despite the increases in revenue across all business areas, Rank’s underlying like-for-like operating profit fell by 52.2% to £20.3m.
That caused a year-on-year drop in the firm’s earnings per share, from 4p to 1.2p.
The drop in underlying operating profit came as the result of a variety of increased costs, including on employee salaries, energy, proprerty costs, Covid-19 support, IT costs, marketing and other inflation-related increases in expenses.
The results fell short of Rank’s expectations, said CFO Richard Harris, despite revenue increases.
Following impairment charges totalling £118.9m during the year, among other expenses, Rank declared a group operating loss of £109.8m, and a loss before taxation of £122.7m.
As a result, the group fell to a loss after tax (accounting for a tax benefit of £27.1m) of £95.3m, compared to a £64.9m profit after tax in the prior year.
The Rank Group Plc (RNK.L) is trading at GBp88.00 (-1.57%)
