AGM Statement

Rank Group PLC
26 April 2006


26 April 2006

                    The Rank Group Plc AGM trading statement

                           16 weeks to 16 April 2006

Summary

The Rank Group has made a steady start to the year in terms of revenue
performance. Profits remain under some pressure in our Gaming Division, in part
due to higher business costs (including energy) and changes to the taxation of
our gaming machines. In addition, Mecca Bingo is facing the impact of the
smoking ban in Scotland. Hard Rock continues to trade strongly in its cafes
business as well as through its gaming and hotel interests.

Gaming

In Grosvenor Casinos we generated 12% growth in revenue, continuing to take
advantage of the early freedoms of gaming deregulation that were introduced in
October 2005. Admissions are up by 14% for the estate as a whole, with our
provincial clubs enjoying higher increases than in London clubs. Admissions
growth has yet to translate into increased handle, as new members are more
likely to play gaming machines rather than table games.

Revenue in Mecca Bingo is flat year-on-year, with a 2% rise in spend per head
compensating for a 2% fall in admissions. At the end of March 2006 we relocated
our Edinburgh Palais club to nearby Fountain Park, creating the world's first
fully-electronic bingo club. In addition we opened one new club at Crewe in
January and we closed our club at Stepney, East London earlier this month.

On 26 March 2006 a ban on smoking in public places was introduced in Scotland,
where Rank operates 14 Mecca Bingo clubs. During the first three weeks of the
ban we have seen a modest reduction in admissions to our Scottish clubs, but a
greater reduction in spend per head. We are monitoring closely our trading
performance in Scotland and will provide a more detailed assessment of the
impact of the ban with our interim results on 2 September. In Spain, our 11
bingo clubs will be subject to a partial smoking ban from September 2006.

From 1 August 2006, our gaming machines in Mecca and in Grosvenor will be
subject to higher levels of Amusement Machine Licence Duty. We anticipate that
this will have a negative effect on 2006 profits of approximately £750,000. This
cost is in addition to the estimated £5m of additional VAT payments arising from
a change to the tax treatment of Section 21 machines introduced in December
2005.

Blue Square has made a positive start to the year with continued growth in
on-line gaming and stronger sportsbook margins than in 2005.

Hard Rock

Hard Rock has grown like-for-like sales in company-operated cafes by 9% with
food and beverage sales up 12% and merchandise ahead by 4%. This strong
performance is in part due to trading at our cafe in New York City, which last
summer we relocated to its new site on Times Square. Total sales for
company-operated cafes are ahead by 7%.

We continue to take action to improve the quality of the Hard Rock Cafe
portfolio, closing two under-performing company-operated cafes since the start
of the year. And we remain on course to add between five and seven new cafes to
our estate in 2006, with the majority to be opened by our franchise partners.
Hard Rock's hotel and gaming interests, which include the Seminole Indian
Nation's two Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos in Florida, continue to trade strongly.

Deluxe Media

We are proceeding with an exit of Deluxe Media via separate disposals of its
constituent operations and are in the early stages of negotiations with a number
of interested parties.

Share buy-back

At the time of Rank's preliminary results in March 2006, we announced our
intention to return £200m to shareholders through a share buy-back programme. As
at market close on 25 April 2006, we had purchased and cancelled a total of 19.4
million shares in The Rank Group Plc at a cost of £45.7m.

ends

For further details:

The Rank Group Plc

Dan Waugh                    020 7535 8031

The Maitland Consultancy

Suzanne Bartch               020 7379 5151


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