The Rank Group have today reported a huge fall in their pre-tax profits, with the main reason for their poor performance being put down to the summer heatwave in Great Britain, which according to Rank kept numbers away from their core bingo business Mecca!
The announcement from Rank Gaming Group, who are majority owned by the Guoco Group from Malaysia, will not have come as a big surprise because during October last year the company warned that figures may be lower than expected due to the hot weather during the summer months. The figures announced today are just £27.7million, a figure that is 23% down on the corresponding period last year.
Chief Executive of The Rank Gaming Group is Ian Burke who had this to say in a press release earlier today. It said, “As previously guided, the first half of the current financial year was challenging with like-for-like brand performances down on the same period last year. Management anticipates operating profit in the second half, excluding the impact of the acquired casinos, will be broadly in line with the comparable period last year.”
Rank have a total of 97 bingo halls and 55 casinos in the UK and the results today will be extremely worrying for all concerned within The Rank Group, who have reacted accordingly by announcing a series of cost cutting exercises across both its Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino brands, though as yet there are no reports of any job losses being announced.
