Hollywood Bowl Group PLC on Wednesday said that strong pent-up demand allowed it to swing to a profit in the first half of its financial year, as it also announced the acquisition of a Canadian bowling operator.
The ten-pin bowling operator swung to pretax profit of £33.4 million in the six months ended March 31 from a loss of £14.5 million a year before.
Revenue multiplied to £100.2 million from £10.4 million last year and up 50% against the pre-pandemic figure of £67.0 million in the half-year that ended March 31, 2020. This was a record-breaking performance, the company said.
Four of the five highest revenue months ever recorded were in the recent half-year, Hollywood Bowl noted, with February being the second highest month ever after August 2021.
Hollywood Bowl said the recent six months had been devoid of any significant Covid-19 impact, with only a very small amount of disruption in December from the Omicron strain.
Chief Executive Stephen Burns said: ‘We saw exceptional pent-up demand in the first half which, in addition to the investments made in our customer experience, led to us achieving a record first half with four of our top performing months ever.’
As a result of its strong performance, the company resumed its interim dividend at 3.0 pence per share.
Looking forward, Hollywood Bowl said it was mindful of the challenges its customers were facing as a result of a higher inflationary environment. Nonetheless, the company said it expects to this its strong momentum to continue to into the second half and anticipates to meet its full-year expectations.
The Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire-based company also announced a foray into the Canadian market with the acquisition of Teaquinn Holdings Inc for £10.6 million.
Teaquinn comprises of Splitsville, an operator of ten-pin bowling centres, and Striker Bowling Solutions, a business-to-business supplier and installer of bowling equipment.
In 2021, Teaquinn reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of C$2.7 million - around £1.7 million - and net income of C$1.9 million.
The acquisition will be funded from Hollywood Bowl’s existing cash resources and is expected to be earnings accretive in its 2023 financial year.
Stephen Burns commented: ‘We are delighted to have acquired Splitsville and Striker Bowling Solutions which marks a key milestone as we take our first step internationally...Canada shares many similarities with the UK bowling market and we believe there is unmet demand for well invested, affordable, family-friendly bowling led experiences.’
Shares in Hollywood Bowl were up 3.4% at 246.00 pence on Wednesday in London.
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