Weather hits Arena Leisure's profits

14th Jan 2011 12:55

Racecourses operator Arena Leisure was trading close to its 52-week low on Friday after it said the poor weather at the end of the year put a dampener on performance.The effects of the bad weather was only partially offset by the hasty arrangement of six meetings at the group's three all-weather tracks.As a result of lower attendance levels and weather-related increases in certain operating costs, group profits will be £0.3m-£0.4m lower than management expectations, had normal trading conditions prevailed. A £0.1m gain on the year end revaluation of interest rate derivative contracts will partially mitigate this shortfall, the company said."The outlook for 2011 remains unchanged from our last update in November 2010 and is based on 353 scheduled fixtures," the company said.