Stanley Leisure doubles annual profits |
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Thu, 20 Jul 2006 14:05
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LONDON - Britain's biggest casino operator, Stanley Leisure has reported booming annual profits as attendance at its provincial casinos surged. The group's pre-tax profits for the year ending April 30 increased by 97 percent to £31.9 million, up from the £16.2 million reported the previous year.
The group's turnover increased 2 percent to £224.8 million. However Stanley warned that lucky gamblers had won huge amounts and had cut into its margins. "There have been a number of material losses to major players which, although within normal limits, have caused our win margin for the first three months of the year to be lower than we had budgeted," the company, which is holding merger talks with rival London Clubs International, said in a statement.
The FIFA World Cup also hit Stanley hard since much of the business was focused on Italy, which emerged the winner. "The results of many of the games were not good from our point of view and have led to a negative contribution from this tournament," Stanley admitted.
But the company was pleased to report a surge in business from the clubs outside London. "In the second half of the year attendance levels grew by an unprecedented 17% with our recently refurbished casinos reporting a 23% growth in attendance," Stanley said. Last year's July bombings hit attendances at the London clubs, but these recovered in the second half.
Stanley chief executive Bob Wiper was pleased with the progress, "We have made significant progress in our five year development programme and this combined with Stanley Leisure's strong pipeline of new licenses, positions, the group well to capture further benefits arising from deregulation," he said.
Stanley has announced a final dividend of 8.3 pence up from the 7.5 pence a year earlier. The total dividend for the year stands at 11.6 pence, up from last year's 10.5 pence.
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