Hollywood Bowl strikes upbeat note as revenues hit record

(Sharecast News) - Tenpin bowling centre operator Hollywood Bowl reported a rise in annual earnings driven by sales growth in the UK and Canada and also announced a £10m share buyback. The company on Monday said adjusted core profits rose 11.1% to £82.7m as revenues increased 16.2% to a record £215.1m. On a pre-tax basis profits fell slightly to £45.1m from £46.7m.

UK like-for-like revenue grew 4.1% with bowling, food, drink and amusements all showing growth, the company said, despite the cost-of-living crisis that has seen consumers cut back on discretionary spending.

"Whilst our trading levels were helped by some very favourable weather in the UK, it is due to our unrelenting customer-focused operating model that we were able to take advantage of this and deliver a record year," said chief executive Stephen Burns.

Canadian operations traded ahead of expectations, contributing CAD $37.3m (£22.5m) in revenue and more than CAD $7.4m (£4.5m) of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com