Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Hollywood Bowl Group PLC on Friday said it reinstated its total dividend in its recent financial year, as annual pretax profit surged and beat pre-pandemic 2019, following revenue growth across all divisions.
The Hertfordshire, England-based ten-pin bowling operator recorded a pretax profit of £46.7 million in the year that ended September 30, compared to £462,000 a year before. It beat pre-pandemic pre-Covid financial year 2019 by 69%, for which the firm reported a pretax profit of £27.6 million.
The company declared a total dividend per share of 14.53 pence, up 22% from 11.93p in financial 2019. No dividend was paid in financial 2021.
Revenue multiplied to £193.7 million from £71.9 million in financial 2022 from the prior-year, which Hollywood Bowl said was driven by increases in footfall and spend. Revenue was up 49% from £129.9 million posted for financial year 2019.
Bowling revenue jumped to £94.5 million from £34.8 million a year prior, food and drink revenue increased to £47.7 million from £17.4 million, and amusement revenue increased to £47.3 million from £18.6 million.
Hollywood Bowl said improvements were made in its centres throughout the year, such as increasing the space for amusements and adding additional lanes, and three new centres opened in financial 2022.
‘We are well positioned to continue to grow our business, supported by our strong balance sheet, highly cash generative business model and our resilience to inflationary pressures,’ Chief Executive Stephen Burns said.
‘We have had a strong start to the new financial year, with an encouraging number of pre-bookings received ahead of Christmas.’
Hollywood Bowl shares were up 3.0% to 236.44p on Friday morning in London.
By Jaskeet Briah, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.