Online casino and bingo businesses help Rank

British gaming giant Rank Group has released its interim financial results for the first six months of 2010 showing a five percent year-on-year increase in overall revenues to £281.1 million.

Maidenhead-based Rank is the firm behind virtual sportsbook BlueSq.com alongside bingo domain MeccaBingo.com and online casino GrosvenorCasinos.com and revealed that its overall earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by £400,000 over the same period last year to £43.1 million.

Revenues for its Rank Interactive online gaming division rose by over nine percent year-on-year to reach £27.4 million although operating profit dropped by £700,000 from the same period in 2009 due to ‘investment in marketing as well as international development start-up costs’ relating to Spain and Italy to hit £2.3 million. William Hill stated that it expects ‘a marked profit improvement’ from its Internet department ‘during the second half of the year’.

William Hill revealed that revenues from online bingo increased by 20.7 percent year-on-year to reach £19.8 million helped by increased marketing including MeccaBingo.com’s deal with Britain’s Got Talent as well as a £700,000 television advertising campaign in addition to ‘improved cross-selling to customers from Mecca Bingo clubs’. The firm revealed that it would be re-launching MeccaBingo.com during the second half of 2010 following an ‘extensive overhaul’.

The operator announced that revenues from its online casinos went up by 25 percent year-on-year to three million pounds, which was the third consecutive quarter of growth following seven three-month periods of decline, as a result of ‘cross-selling to customers of G Casino and Grosvenor Casinos’.

However, revenues from online poker declined by £700,000 over the same period last year to come in at one million pounds. William Hill stated that this drop reflected a ‘reallocation of marketing support away from BlueSq.com to MeccaBingo.com and GCasino.com as well as a sector-wide reduction in online poker revenue’.

As a result of this reduction in marketing, earnings from the firm’s virtual sportsbook at BlueSq.com declined by 18.2 percent year-on-year to £3.6 million although revenues grew ‘strongly’ in June as a result of the ‘high volumes and high margins’ triggered by the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“I am encouraged by the Group’s performance during the first half of 2010,” said Ian Burke, Chief Executive Officer for Rank.

“All of our businesses have achieved growth in revenues as a result of increased numbers of customers and customer visits. We have engaged with our customers to identify the changes that we needed to make to our products and services, we have strengthened our senior management team in order to deliver performance change and we have stepped up our capital investment to support the growth plans of the businesses.

“In spite of a challenging environment for consumer-facing businesses, the Group has made sustained progress and enjoys a strong balance sheet.”