Rank says bingo and casino revenue stabilising
Gambling firm Rank Group faces a tough year ahead despite its hard-hit bingo halls and casinos showing tentative signs of recovery, the company said on Friday.
Casino plans set to be announcedIt added it was to transfer management of its pension plans to Goldman Sachs, earning it at least 20 million pounds and saving it more than 30 million pounds in contributions.
Rank has had a torrid time over the last year. Its bingo clubs have been hammered by a ban on smoking and the forced removal of nearly 1,000 lucrative slot machines, while its casinos have been hit by a surprise hike in tax.
The Mecca bingo, Grosvenor casino and Blue Square firm said full-year profit before tax and exceptional items from continuing operations reached 52.3 million pounds, compared with 53.9 million a year before. Revenue fell to 534.4 million pounds from 549.6 million.
It said its bingo business had seen a modest improvement since December when it last reported, while little had changed for its casino business.
In the first eight weeks of the year, bingo like-for-like revenue fell 13.5 percent and casino revenue dropped 13.4 percent, while its fast-growing online business Blue Square saw like-for-like sales rise 14.9 percent.
"We expect 2008 to be a challenging year for Rank," said Chief Executive Ian Burke. "Our priority is to overcome the near term issues facing our businesses."
(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Rory Channing and David Holmes)
- 1 Dollar rally unstoppable
- 2 Markets nervous on return of short sellers
- 3 Lehman demise could end speculative raid on taxpayers
- 4 AIG in focus as financial meltdown spreads
- 5 Goldman and Morgan Stanley face biggest test
- 6 Lloyds says no comment on report of HBOS deal renegotiation
- 7 Rate cut to be passed on to savers
- 1 RBS gets Chinese approval for Suzhou stake
- 2 Report says Green in talks with Iceland's Baugur
- 3 Renishaw says first-quarter pretax profit up 75 pct
- 4 Oil hits one-year low on demand fears
- 5 Citi ends talks with Wells Fargo on Wachovia
- 6 C&C's H1 down and warns on H2
- 7 BA mulls cooperation with Alitalia
|
|
