Rank Group posts 7% increase in NGR while operating profit plummets
Maidenhead-based operator reports 52% decrease in underlying operating profit as land-based costs continue to mount
Rank Group has posted a 7% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its group net gaming revenue (NGR) for its 2022-2023 financial year to £679.7m.
Releasing its preliminary financial update for the period, which runs from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, the operator also confirmed underlying operating profit of £20.3m, down 52% on the £42.5m posted last year.
However, Rank noted H2 performance far stronger than H1, with underlying operating profit of £16.1m in the second half of the year, compared to £4.2m in H1.
The operator stated the overall decline can be attributed to significant cost increases, notably employment up £15.9m and energy costs up £5.4m.
Divisionally, Rank’s venues business saw a slight increase of 6%, with venue NGR rising to £476.8m.
Grosvenor venues saw revenue growth of 4% to £306.3m, while the Mecca business reported a 7% YoY revenue increase to £134.1m over the same period.
Rank’s Spain-based Enracha business recorded a 19% YoY revenue jump, hitting £36.4m.
Digital underlying NGR increased 10% YoY to £202.9m.
Rank also confirmed a minor increase in underlying digital operating profit, which rose to £18.8m, buoyed by its brands now operating on its own proprietary platform.
Within the UK-facing digital brands, Mecca’s NGR increased 9% YoY, while Grosvenor’s grew 14% and the Stride legacy brands grew 8%.
Yo and Enracha grew NGR by 12%, increasing from £21.5m to £24.1m.
The operator stated that YoSports had enjoyed a successful launch before the World Cup at the back end of 2022, and the site had received a good response from customers.
Rank has said that due to the success of YoSports, it will be looking to further support the YoBingo, YoCasino and Enracha brands with further initiatives going forward, with YoBingo currently in the licence application stage in Portugal.
Following the results, Rank stated that despite the challenging trading conditions, it still expects to see a positive revenue increase in 2023-2024 and grow its profitability.
Reflecting on these results, John O’Reilly, CEO of the Rank Group, said: “The return of customers to our Grosvenor and Mecca venues continues to pick up, and our second half numbers give cause for optimism after a very challenging couple of years.
“Our digital business is performing strongly, and we have a strong pipeline of customer-facing developments in both our UK and Spanish brands to drive revenue and profit growth. We are very focused on delivering a market-leading cross-channel experience for our Grosvenor and Mecca customers, with several key developments landing during this new financial year.”
O’Reilly also noted his pleasure with the reforms laid out in the government’s white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review, which was released at the end of April.
He commented: “The UK government’s white paper on gambling reform sets out a number of important public policies which will enable the land-based bingo and casino sectors to modernise the customer proposition to better meet the needs of today’s consumers.
“The delivery of the secondary legislation to enable these reforms cannot come soon enough, and we are well-advanced with plans to maximise these opportunities.”