Rank Group has released a trading update for the third quarter that ended March 31, 2024. The company said the results aligned with expectations while noting that business continued to improve this month and maintained its outlook.
As per the report, in Q3 the company registered a 6% increase in its net gaming revenue to £182 million ($226.5 million), while year-to-date net gaming revenues stood at £555 million ($690.7 million), up 8% from 2022/2023 revenue of £512 million ($637.2 million).
As reported, Grosvenor venues‘ like-for-like NGR grew by 3% to £80 million ($99.5 million), with a 5% growth in visit numbers. “With this being the seasonally quieter period, average weekly NGR in the quarter was GBP6.2 million, up 2% on the prior year and down 2% on [the second quarter],” the company said.
Mecca venues like-for-like NGR grew by 12% in the quarter, driven by a 5% increase in customer visits and a 7% increase in spend per visit. Rank Group said it particularly benefitted from strong trading over the Mother’s Day and Easter weekends.
Digital NGR grew by 6% to £55 million ($68.4 million) in the quarter with UK growth of 4% and Spanish growth of 20%, Rank Group said. The unit’s year-to-date revenues stand at £163 million ($202.8 million), up 8% on 2022/2023 results of £154 million ($191.6 million).
Digital growth was secured by a strong Mecca performance with NGR up 21%. However, Grosvenor’s growth was more modest at 1%, impacted by a weaker gaming margin with some significant customer wins.
The performance of Rank’s wider portfolio of digital brands in the UK experienced “a 13% reduction in NGR, with improvements in the return on investment delivered in March and continuing into Q4,” the company said.
Rank maintains a positive view of its Digital performance, as the Mecca and Grosvenor brands are supported by a new content management system and the continued growth of its Yo brands in Spain.
Rank details a confident outlook to year-end trading: “Performance has continued to improve in April, and we expect like-for-like (LFL) operating profit for the year ending 30 June 2024 to be in line with the Group’s expectations,” the business noted.
As such, full-year 2023/2024 results will address the London Stock Exchange (LSE) gambling group’s comparative losses of £109 million ($135.6 million) as the 2022/2023 fiscal year included impairment charges of £118 million ($146.8 million) due to the closure of venues, inflated energy costs, and operational restructuring.
“We continue to make good progress across both our venues and online businesses, with [third quarter] trading very much in line with the board’s expectations. Performance continues to improve, and we have the very important land-based reforms from the UK government’s white paper to look forward to, which we hope to start implementing in the coming months,” said Chief Executive Officer John O’Reilly.
In other company news, Rank has entered an agreement to sell its holding in Passion Gaming, an Indian online rummy business, for a nominal consideration, with a sale expected to be completed in the coming weeks.