Bricks-and-mortar operations drag The Rank Group revenue down

18th Oct 2018 08:12

(Sharecast News) - As investors gathered for its annual general meeting, The Rank Group updated the market on its trading on Thursday morning, with like-for-like revenue in the 16 weeks to 14 October falling by 4.9%.The FTSE 250 gambling firm said that on a channel basis, digital revenue was up 1.7% during the period, while venues revenue fell 6.1%.Grosvenor Casinos venues like-for-like revenue was down 7.2% in the period, which the board said was driven by a reduction in handle and margin from high spending customers.Mecca's venues like-for-like revenue was down 5.0%, driven by a fall in visits."Mecca's digital channel continues to perform well with revenue up 6.4% in the period," the Rank board said in its statement."Grosvenor Casinos' digital channel was impacted by the more stringent customer due diligence implemented from September 2017, which contributed to a revenue decline of 5.2% in the period."YoBingo, a Spanish digital bingo operation, was acquired in May and was excluded from the like-for-like digital revenue numbers, Rank said.In the 16-week period, YoBingo continued to perform "strongly" with like-for-like revenue up 46.0%.Total group digital revenue, including YoBingo's contribution in the current period, grew 13.5% in the 16-week period."The transformation programme has identified some early cost savings for the full year which, in part, are expected to mitigate Grosvenor Casinos venues' revenue shortfall in the 16-week period."