Rank Group reported first-quarter results for its 2026/27 financial year: like-for-like NGR rose 5% to £216.1m for the three months to 30 September 2026. The company called it a 'strong start' to the year. Full-year guidance holds operating profit at market expectations, but only on the condition that the UK tax structure stays as it is.
Channels
Grosvenor Casinos lifted like-for-like NGR 6% to £108.1m, with visits up 1% and spend per visit up 5%. Mecca bingo held NGR at £32.2m as traffic fell 3%; part of the drop is put down to a prolonged heatwave, and a 3% rise in spend per visit kept revenue level. Digital grew 6% to £64.9m on UK digital and the Mecca online brand, with international digital up 4%. Spanish brand Enracha added 7% to £10.9m, where electronic games rose 11%. Across the group, machines were up 14%, table games 3% and electronic games 5%.
Three venues — in Swansea, Reading Central and Sunderland — are closing. They are 'no longer economically viable in the medium term'.
The MGD doubling risk
The main threat is a possible doubling of Machine Games Duty in the autumn Budget. Chief executive Richard Harris warns that a higher MGD would raise costs and reduce the viability of venues. Closures, job losses, lower tax receipts and a halt to investment would follow. Deutsche Bank put the extra burden at roughly £35m a year — about 44% of forecast 2028 EBIT and some 17% of near-term EBITDA even with partial mitigation. The bank kept its rating at 'hold'; it cut the stock from 'buy' in January.
Rank earlier reported underlying operating profit of at least £76m for the year to June 2026 and like-for-like NGR of about £834.1m, up 6%. Its results for the six months to 31 December 2026 are due on 28 January 2027.
