London Clubs posts £3.6m full-year loss
LONDON: Britain's London Clubs International plc made a full-year loss of £3.6 million after high rollers at the casino owner's former flagship site, Les Ambassadeurs, enjoyed a purple patch.
However, London Clubs said yesterday trading at its London venues was improving after a relatively slow start to its new financial year, while its provincial casinos had seen increases in attendance and overseas businesses were ahead year-on-year.
London Clubs said its loss in the year to end-March was made on revenues up 22 per cent at £126 million. At 0740 GMT its shares were unchanged at 95 pence.
Chairman Michael Beckett said Les Ambassadeurs, which operates at the very high end of the London casino market, had its lowest trading performance for several years as "a number of players (enjoyed) success at the tables resulting in a lower than usual win percentage".
In February London Clubs said it was selling Les Ambassadeurs for £115 million to provide cash to develop existing sites and add new venues following a change in Britain's 40-year-old gaming laws.
The overhaul scrapped restrictive membership regulations for casinos. The new laws will allow the first Las Vegas-style super-casino to be built in Britain.
The move boosted admissions to many casinos but revenues have yet to catch up.
On June 26 Britain's biggest casino operator, Stanley Leisure, announced it was in talks to buy London Clubs, and said it might offer one new Stanley Leisure share for every six London Clubs shares.
London Clubs said yesterday those talks were progressing.
London Clubs had been surrounded by bid speculation for months, mostly linked to stake building by its Malaysian shareholder Genting Bhd, which reached 29.9 per cent last April, just short of the 30 per cent at which it must launch a full takeover bid under UK Takeover Panel rules.
Genting also holds around 13 per cent of Stanley.
Analysts suggest an enlarged group could spark interest from bookmaker Ladbrokes or an international operator looking for a way into Britain to cash in on the relaxed gambling laws. |
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