Rank trading update
The top line
- Group GGR was up 69% YoY to £163.1m with Grosvenor venues up 209% YoY to £79.2m, Mecca venues up 41% to £34m and the Spanish Enracha business up 20% to £6.5m.
- UK digital returned to growth, up 4% to £38.2m while international digital was up 11% to £5.2m.
- FY22 group LFL NGR expected to be in the range £700m-£750m and EBIT between £50m-£75m.
Zimmer Zimmer, chicken dinner: The Grosvenor casinos Q1 result was still 20% below the comparative period in 2019 with Rank blaming a lack of tourists in the capital. Outside of London, the regional casinos were now “running at close to pre-pandemic levels”. Mecca venues were also sluggish compared to Q119, down 22% with the company suggesting that older customers had been slower to return than other cohorts.
Going blank again: Grosvenor digital was up 12% helped by the broader return of omni-channel customers and Mecca online was up 6%. The bingo business was dragged down overall, however, by the other bingo brands (presumably the Stride brands) culminating in a 6% NGR decline. Rank hopes to launch its bingo operations on the RIDE platform in Jan22.
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