Rank Group PLC (LON:RNK) may be best known for its Grosvenor casinos and Mecca bingo halls, but it’s the online business that’s driving growth at the FTSE 250 firm.
The gaming company notched up like-for-like sales growth of 2% in the 16 weeks to 15 October, driven largely by higher digital sales which soared by 19%.
READ: Rank's full-year profits fall
Like bricks-and-mortar shops, Rank has complained of “challenging” UK retail markets recently, with traffic through its venues falling.
That was evident once again in the latest update, with venues revenue falling by 1%.
Grosvenor and Mecca saw like-for-like venue sales decline by 1% and 2% respectively, with punters instead switching to the businesses’ online offerings, where revenues rose by 34% and 11%.
As for full-year guidance, that remains unchanged, Rank said in its latest trading statement released today.
Last year, Rank pulled out of a joint bid with 888 (LON:888) for rival William Hill PLC (LON:WMH) after abandoning a £3.6bn three-way merger attempt.
'Reassuring statement'
"Overall, we see today as a reassuring statement, especially on Digital momentum and a stable trading backdrop at Grosvenor’s provincial casinos in particular," wrote Shore Capital's Greg Johnson in a note.
"We are lowering our 2018 profit before tax estimate by £1.5mln to £80mln (EPS: 16.2p), in line with consensus estimates, primarily on lower assumptions for revenue conversion in Digital."
Despite the tweaks to his forecasts, the analyst still has Rank as a 'buy'.
Shares were broadly flat at 229.7p.
--Updates for broker comment and share price--