Rank reports double-digit online growth on strong Grosvenor performance
Operator’s digital revenues up 16% with Grosvenor Casinos’ dual play product cross-selling retail customers
Rank this morning reported a 16% increase in digital revenues to £60.6m for the first half of the 2018 fiscal year, with particularly strong growth from its core Grosvenor Casinos brand.
Grosvenor’s online arm continued to power growth with a 27% year-on-year increase on the back of the brand’s dual play live casino offering cross selling retail customers.
Digital operating profit was up 56% to £11.4m, with CEO Henry Birch attributing the profit increase to improved marketing efficiency.
Elsewhere, meccabingo.com revenues grew 9% during the period to £36.1m. However a more targeted marketing focus led to a 5% fall in digital customer numbers.
Birch said the Kambi-powered Grosvenor Casino sportsbook continued to perform well as a cross-selling initiative, and would see an update to its horseracing and football products as platform provider Kambi advances its offering.
The Group said it will make a significant omni-channel push in upcoming months with the widespread roll-out of its single account and wallet initiative dubbed “Grosvenor One”.
The digital arm of the group’s Spanish-facing Enracha brand was soft launched in September 2017 on the Bede platform and a full roll-out is expected in coming months.
Birch added: “We continue to enhance our capability in this area such that we can leverage our active retail customer base of three million customers and meet their changing needs.”
Group operating profit was up 14% with an overall reduction in group costs of £6.2m due to a restructuring of corporate and retail operations.
Peel Hunt said in an analyst note this morning: “Digital is delivering on its promise, and costs in the rest of the business are clearly under control.
“The balance sheet had moved into net cash by the period end, further highlighting both the resilience of the group; and the potential for it to bring its firepower to bear on an acquisition or to make a capital return.”