Rank, whose business is predominantly in Britain where it owns the Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos chains, was still scouting for deals, its head said on Tuesday, after the company posted a 4 percent rise in annual profit but lifted its full-year dividend by 16 percent. Revenues for the year increased 2% to £753 million, shy of the £757 million analyst consensus compiled by Bloomberg. Adjusted earnings per share were 15.4 pence, compared to 14.6 pence a year ago. Trading in the seven weeks to August 14 had been “positive” and in line with management’s expectations, the company said, adding it expected Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union would have little or no direct impact on Rank’s performance.
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Chief executive Henry Birch said: “I am pleased to report a solid set of results with group revenue up 2 per cent, again recording like-for-like growth across all brands and channels in the year”.
However, Rank said: “Any likely impact would be driven by any macro-economic impact of lower United Kingdom growth rates or loss of consumer confidence and spending power”.
“This included the migration of our digital business onto a new platform, the rollout of an improved retail casino management system and investments into new generation machines in both our casino and bingo venues”.
“The consortium sees significant industrial logic in the combination, through consolidation of their complementary online and land-based operations, delivery of substantial revenue and cost synergies and from the anticipated benefits of economies of scale, which will accrue to all shareholders”. “The board continues to look to the future with confidence”, Birch said.
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The results follow Rank Group’s recent attempt at acquiring William Hill, in a joint bid from 888.
