Rank digital revenues up 11% as transformation programme pays dividends
Group FY digital revenues hit £118.5m, with 9% growth in Mecca and 13% growth in Grosvenor
Rank has reported a 11% rise in like-for-like digital revenues for the year to 30 June, with the operator hailing the ongoing success of its transformation programme.
Total digital revenue for the period was £118.5m, or up 23% when including the acquired YoBingo business.
Digital like-for-like operating profit was down 3% to £19.1m in the year as improvements to revenue were offset by £0.8m of incremental Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) on player bonuses and £1.9m of additional RGD following its increase to 21% (from 15%) from 1 April 2019.
Rank CEO Jon O’Reilly said he was particularly pleased with performance in the second half of the year where like-for-like H2 net gaming revenue (NGR) was up 14% compared to the H1 growth of 7%.
For the year, Mecca digital NGR grew 9% to £62.2m and Grosvenor grew 13% to £42.4m.
Rank highlighted the success of Mecca’s new Daily Retention Game, a spin to win bonus mechanic, which helped increase customer numbers and FTDs in the year.
“Grosvenor’s focus on attracting and retaining profitable customers led to a 4% reduction in active customers in the year,” the firm added.
Elsewhere, Grosvenor One, Grosvenor’s single account and wallet omni-channel offering, was rolled out across all of Grosvenor’s casinos between January and April.
By the end of July 2019, over 80,000 casino customers had registered with Grosvenor One, of which approximately 80% were new to Grosvenor’s digital channel.
“There is still plenty of work required to improve the customer proposition, however we are encouraged by the early results,” Rank noted.
Rank CEO John O’Reilly
The firm said its acquisition of Stride was expected to close in October, with O’Reilly adding: “The acquisition will help step change our digital business, deliver strong synergies, bring proprietary technology in-house and create one of the UK’s leading online gaming businesses.”
Rank also announced the appointment of Alex Thursby as its new chair. Thursby, currently a NED, will succeed Ian Burke.
Rank’s share price was almost unchanged in early trading.