Investing.com -- Hollywood Bowl shares jump 6% as bowling operator says full-year profit on track despite record UK heat.
The UK's and Canada's largest ten-pin bowling brands operator said group adjusted profit before tax is expected to grow in the year ended Sept. 30, in line with expectations.
The company said the mean forecast of the eight analysts it surveyed is £51 million, within a range of £48 million to £53.2 million.
The company said the UK had its hottest spring and summer on record. It said the exceptionally prolonged hot, dry weather heavily hit UK like-for-like revenue in the second half, which fell 5.6%. Group like-for-like revenue for the second half fell 4.5%.
Like-for-like figures count only centres that traded in both periods, with comparable days in each.
Group revenue for the year rose 4.3% to a record £261.6 million. Like-for-like revenue fell 1% across the group and 1.4% in the UK for the year, and the company said the weather was the main drag on UK trading in the second half.
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UK total revenue rose 3.5% to £219.9 million for the year. In the second half, UK revenue fell 2.6% to £101.5 million and group revenue fell 1.1% to £120.1 million, against a first half in which group revenue rose 9.5% to £141.5 million.
The company said cost controls and dynamic pricing helped limit the short-term hit from the weather.
In Canada, total revenue rose 9.0% to £41.7 million, which the company put down to the opening of new centres. Canadian like-for-like revenue rose 1.5% for the year, with growth picking up to 2.7% in the second half, which the company credited to its operating and investment strategy.
The company ended the year with net cash of £13.5 million and completed a £2.9 million share buyback in the second half.
It opened four new centres during the year, taking its estate to 95. A pipeline of eight centres in the UK and Canada will lift that to 103 during the 2027 financial year, and the company said it remains on track for 130 centres by 2033.
"Demand remained resilient during the extended period of record hot weather in the UK," chief executive Stephen Burns said, adding that the company operates in "an environment where consumers are closely watching what they spend."
Of Canada, Burns said a strong second half reflected investments in existing and new centres, and that the company had made "a material step forward in our pipeline for new centres."
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