Rank sales rise despite economic worries

7th Oct 2010 07:04

Strong trading across its divisions helped casino and bingo hall operator Rank to a 7% rise in like-for-like sales in the third quarter, leaving the company confident for the full year despite challenging economic conditions.Grosvenor Casinos and Rank Interactive, an online business that includes the gambling site bluesq.com, saw particularly strong performances, with like-for-like sales up by 9% and 26% respectively in the 13 weeks to 3 October. Spend per head increased at Mecca Bingo, helping it to a 2% rise in like-for-like sales, while the Spanish bingo business, Top Rank Espana, saw 1% growth, 'in a difficult economic environment.''The board is encouraged by the sustained performance improvements achieved by each of Rank's businesses during the period and expects full year performance to be around the top end of analysts' forecasts,' said Rank. 'Whilst the consumer environment is likely to remain challenging for some time to come, the Group is in a strong financial position and has made considerable progress in improving the standard of its products and services.'