The Rank Group Announces Falling Profits Over the Past Year

British gambling company, the Rank Group has announced their profit margins from the last year. The Rank group is known for its Bingo halls and casinos across the UK. While the company remains attractive, their costs have increased astronomically, driving their profits down. Also, stricter money laundering checks have turned customers away.

Rank currently runs Mecca Bingo halls as well as Grosvenor casinos. While rank hoped that their online bingo and gambling participation would offset their decline in customers at physical facilities, this was not the case.

Rank’s pretax profits fell by a massive 7%. The full year until June 30 put their pretax profit at £ 79.7 million. Overall revenues fell from £709 million to £707 million for the British gambling firm. They also saw operating profits fall by 9% over the course of the year, and Mecca’s revenue alone fell 4%. Mr. Henry Birch, the Chief Executive for The Rank expressed his concerns over the falling profits stating that, “With a lower gaming margin and a more stringent application of customer diligence impacting visits, Grosvenor venues’ like-for-like revenue fell by 1%.” Mr. Birch added that The Rank had a “challenging first half.” While trading had improved online during the second half, it wasn’t enough to offset their losses.

The digital arm that The Rank holds increased sales by an impressive 15%. The operating profits for their digital sector also rose by an astronomical 63% over the past year. Grosvenor casinos saw an overall slip in profits measuring 3%. This could be due to the fact that customer visits fell 5% over the year while operating profits were also dropping by 14%.

Some of these declines also could be due to The Rank’s attempt to address a money laundering issue. However, the stricter system for checks may have turned customers away, especially from the physical venues. Two of the Grosvenor facilities were falling behind be a very large margin. This lead to costs increasing by a significant amount, especially since The Rank is working on the reconstruction of some of their UK operations.

Shares also dropped for the company. The shares fell 2.2% this year. However, with the new financial year, Mr. Birch expects profits to increase again as they continue to push their online business sales and profits. The new year has already been successful for the company, so Mr. Birch remains confident and hopeful for the year ahead.

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