Rank Group PLC
06 May 2003
AGM TRADING STATEMENT
Overall, trading for the year to date has been satisfactory. Only Hard Rock has
been discernibly affected by the disruption to international travel and tourism.
The Group continues to make progress on a number of fronts, with a variety of
new development opportunities.
GAMING
The Gaming Division continues to perform well. In Mecca Bingo, the historic
trends in the UK have continued, with lower levels of attendance being off-set
by increased spend per head, resulting in turnover slightly ahead of last year.
In Spain, the business has benefited from the acquisitions made in 2002.
In Grosvenor Casinos, overall turnover is up 8% since the start of the year.
Trading within the provincial casinos has continued to be buoyant, with strong
growth in both admissions and handle per head. The London casinos have had a
mixed start to the year. The Clermont has traded well in the year to date, but
performance at the Park Tower has been impacted by building work associated with
its expansion; this is expected to be completed in June 2003. The three
London-other casinos - the Victoria, Gloucester and Connoisseur - have performed
in-line with last year. The recently opened Hard Rock casinos continue to make
good progress and London is performing particularly well.
The integration of Blue Square with Rank.com is complete and there is now one
organisation and a common systems base. Trading since completion has been good,
with both improved turnover and margins. The £5m of annual cost savings
identified at the time of acquisition has already been realised and more
aggressive cross-marketing is planned over the coming months. A one-off
exceptional charge of approximately £6m will be incurred in the first half
relating to the costs of integration and rationalisation of the combined product
portfolio.
HARD ROCK
Hard Rock remains under pressure given the continuing reduced levels of
international travel and tourism. Marketing efforts continue to be concentrated
on encouraging local customers, and while food and beverage sales are slightly
ahead of last year, merchandise sales are down 10%, leaving total like-for-like
sales down by 4%. As announced at the time of the Annual Results, action has
been taken to reduce both cafe operating costs and central overheads.
The company-owned Cologne Hard Rock cafe has just opened, the Cardiff and Lisbon
cafes are in build and the Hard Rock branded Choctaw beach club will open in
June. The planned developments which extend the Hard Rock brand beyond pure
restaurant operations, are progressing well. Both the Chicago hotel and the two
casino and hotel developments on Seminole reservation land in Florida are
proceeding on schedule.
DELUXE
Deluxe Film has had a good trading period, despite minimal volume from the
Universal contract which ended in March 2003. The business has also benefited
from positive contributions from the recent acquisitions of ETS, Image and
Capital FX. One of the two outstanding film contracts yet to be renewed at the
2002 year end, representing 8% of total 2002 contracted footage, has now been
secured until 2008. The renewal of the final outstanding contract is expected by
the half year.
In Deluxe Media, much stronger DVD volumes have off-set the expected lower VHS
volumes, to give an overall net increase in revenue, albeit at lower margins.
The one outstanding North American VHS contract has been renewed and Deluxe
Media has also gained the European portion of that business. Additional DVD
business has been secured and DVD production is now in the process of being
transferred from California to the lower cost plant in Arkansas. As a
consequence, the Carson DVD facility in California will be closed, resulting in
an exceptional charge of approximately £10m.
OUTLOOK
Despite uncertain political and economic conditions, the strength and spread of
the Group's activities, combined with the continued drive for operational
efficiency, means that we are confident of achieving satisfactory results for
the year. The longer term prospects remain very good, and we believe that the
liberalisation of the UK Gaming market will take place as recommended within the
Budd Report and on the timetable suggested by the UK Government last year.
ENQUIRIES:
The Rank Group Peter Reynolds
Director of Investor Relations
Tel: 020 7535 8031
PRESS ENQUIRIES:
The Maitland Consultancy Angus Maitland
Suzanne Bartch
Tel: 020 7379 5151
RG04/03
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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