Rank Group shake off Brexit with increased profits

Rank Group has announced on 23 August that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union would have little or no direct impact on its performance, just days after it dropped its joint bid to takeover London-based bookmakers William Hill.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he operator of Grosvenor casinos and Mecca bingo reported increased revenue and profits in its latest full year, and an 18 percent increase to the final dividend.

The company added that since it was mainly a UK-focused business with limited exposure to non-sterling earnings, any impact of Brexit could be driven by lower UK growth rates or loss of consumer confidence and spending power.

For the 12 months to 30 June, Rank posted a 15 percent increase in profit before tax at £85.5m ($112.8m) compared to £74.5m ($98.3m) the previous year. However revenue across the group only ticked up 1 percent, hurt by a weak fourth quarter at its Grosvenor casinos venues. Rank also said the introduction of the National Living Wage had added £1.4m ($1.9m) to operating costs for the year.

This year we have focused on delivering significant projects to ensure we have the right platform in place for future growth.

Henry Birch, Rank chief executive, said: “This year we have focused on delivering significant projects to ensure we have the right platform in place for future growth.

“This included the migration of our digital business onto a new platform, the rollout of an improved retail casino management system and investments into new generation machines in both our casino and bingo venues.

“At the same time we have delivered a substantial increase in the dividend to our shareholders.”