Rank Group reiterates outlook after strong first quarter

(Sharecast News) - Gambling and gaming specialist Rank Group reiterated its full-year guidance on Thursday, after bumper first-quarter trading across its casino estate. The London-listed firm said group like-for-like net gaming revenues in the three months to September end rose 12% at £197.5m.

Leading that was a 13% jump in NGR at Grosvenor casinos, to £95.3m. Visits increased by 2%, while spend per visit spiked 11%. Margins were also better-than-expected, Rank noted.

At its Mecca bingo halls, underlying NGR rose 4%, to £34.7m, as a 1% drop in visits was offset by a 5% increase in spend per trip.

Rank said: "We have made a strong start to the new financial year, and are confident of delivering group like-for-like operating profit in line with expectations."

John O'Reilly, chief executive, said: "We have continued to build on the momentum that we have generated over the past year and a half, and I am very pleased with our start to this financial year."

Greg Johnson, equity research analyst at Shore Capital, called the trading update "highly encouraging".

He continued: "The momentum in the fourth quarter has continued in the first quarter of this financial year, with group NGR up by 12%, comfortably ahead of our full-year assumptions of 5%.

"We keep our full-year estimates unchanged at this stage, given the uncertainty around the Budget, but see upside to forecasts were current trends to continue."