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Payments: Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group to pay dividend for first time since Covid
The owner of Mecca Bingo will pay a dividend for the first time since the pandemic.
Rank Group will pay out 85p a share to investors this year, its first payout since the Covid pandemic forced it to close its doors for months.
Chief executive John O’Reilly said the return was a “sign of confidence in the business” as the company, which also owns Grosvenor Casinos, revealed profits hit £46.5m in the year to the end of June, more than double the £20.1m it made the previous year. Revenue rose 9 per cent to £734.4m.
O’Reilly said the company had been in “recovery mode.” It now has 52 bingo halls, compared with 82 the year before Covid.
Analysts at Shore Capital said the performance was “stronger than anticipated” and that upcoming industry reforms could be a “game changer.”
These changes include removing the limit on the number of slot machines in casinos and relaxing rules on cashless gambling.
Rank shares rose 6.6 per cent, or 4.6 pence, to 74.6 pence, but are more than 70 per cent lower than just before the lockdown.
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