A run of good luck for its high spending casino clients has prompted a profit warning from Rank Group PLC (LON:RNK).
Cold weather keeping people from its bingo outlets has also had an adverse impact, warned the Grosvenor Casino and Mecca owner.
The warning comes just a few weeks after chief executive Henry Birch said he was stepping down to join Shop Direct.
Like-for-like revenue for the 13 weeks to 1 April 2018 declined by 2%, the FTSE 250-listed firm said.
READ: Mecca Bingo owner Rank boosted by digital sales
Mecca’s turnover fell by 2%, while Grosvenor was 9% lower.
Digital revenue was a bright spot and grew by 17%, presumably as some people played indoors during the cold snap.
Full-year operating profit will now be in the range of £76mln-£78mln, said Rank.
A year ago it reported a pre-tax profit of £85.5mln.
Rank was also cautious about the UK consumer outlook with venues likely to be under pressure for the remainder of the current financial year to June and into 2018-2019.
In the early morning trading, company’s shares slumped 15% to 182.8p.
In a note to clients, stockbrokers Goodbody said they were likely to reduce Rank’s operating profit forecast for the financial year 2018 to £77mln from £84mln.
The analyst explained: “The Grosvenor retail performance is a disappointment, but VIP activity has proven to be volatile in the past and we remain of the opinion that over time this business has resilient and stable cash flow characteristics.”