LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Gambling and gaming operator Rank Group boosted its full-year guidance on Thursday, following strong trading over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The owner of Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos, as well as a number of online-only brands, said underlying like-for-like net gaming revenues (NGR) jumped 13% in the six months to 31 December, to £401.8m.

Within that, Rank's venues and online divisions both posted a hike in NGR, up 12% and 14% respectively.

Group underlying like-for-like operating profits surged 55% to £32.9m.

Rank said it had benefited from bumper trading through Christmas and over the New Year, contributing to a "strong" first half.

Coupled with "encouraging" trading in January, the London-listed firm said it now expects underlying like-for-like operating profits for the year to 30 June to be slightly ahead of expectations, despite likely higher costs.

John O'Reilly, chief executive, said: "Customers are responding positively to the investment we are making and to the experiences we are delivering, both online and in our venues.

"The second half will see inflationary employment cost headwinds and the negative financial impact of some of the measures in the Gambling Act. But we are confident that our ability to both grow revenues and secure further cost efficiencies will help us to sustain our positive profit trajectory.

"We are readying ourselves to take full advantage of the benefits of the land-based legislative reforms, which we expect to see implemented from summer 2025."

As at 0845 GMT, shares in Rank were trading 2% higher at 91.5p.

Greg Johnson, analyst at Shore Capital, called the results "encouraging".

He continued: "The opportunity to build further underlying profitability over the medium term at digital and Grosvenor, along with opportunities from land-based gambling reform, with potential headwinds now included in forecasts, means increasing confidence towards our £100m operating profit aspiration. This is yet to be anywhere reflected in valuation."

Shore has a 'buy' rating on the stock.

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