Rank Group PLC on Thursday said trading in its financial third quarter was in line with expectations, while noting that business continued to improve this month and maintaining its outlook.

The Maidenhead, Berkshire-based casino owner has operations in the UK and Spain under the Grosvenor, Mecca, Yo and Enracha brands.

It said net gaming revenue was £182.3 million in the three months that ended March 31, up 6% like-for-like from a year earlier. In the financial year-to-date, it was up 8% to GB544.9 million.

Rank Group said Grosvenor venues grew like-for-like NGR by 3% to £80.0 million with a 5% growth in visit numbers. ‘With this being the seasonally quieter period, average weekly NGR in the quarter was £6.2 million, up 2% on the prior year and down 2% on [the second quarter],’ the company said.

Mecca venues like-for-like NGR grew by 12% in the quarter, driven by a 5% increase in customer visits and a 7% increase in spend per visit. Rank Group said it particularly benefitted from strong trading over the Mother’s Day and Easter weekends.

Digital NGR grew by 6% in the quarter with UK growth of 4% and Spanish growth of 20%, Rank Group said.

Looking ahead, Rank Group said performance continued to improve in April and it expects LFL operating profit for the year ending June 30 to be in line with expectations.

‘We continue to make good progress across both our venues and online businesses, with [third quarter] trading very much in line with the board’s expectations. Performance continues to improve, and we have the very important land-based reforms from the UK government’s white paper to look forward to, which we hope to start implementing in the coming months,’ said Chief Executive Officer John O’Reilly.

Rank Group will announce its annual results on August 15.

Shares in Rank Group were up 2.6% to 72.85 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

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