Shares in leisure operator Hollywood Bowl (BOWL) are on a roll today after the company reported strong trading for the six months to 31 March 2019.
Total turnover is up 5.3% thanks to healthy like-for-like growth of 4.4% with revenue up across all business lines including food and drink. The news sends the shares up 2% to 225p.
READ MORE ABOUT HOLLYWOOD BOWL HERE
Bowling is an affordable, fun activity for pretty much everyone - young adults, families with kids etc. Hollywood Bowl has put a huge amount of thought into how to build the business for the long term.
SITE MAKEOVERS
Sprucing up the interiors and improving the food and drink offering naturally help to make the customer experience more enjoyable, making bookings more likely. But it also increases the time (and money) people spend while on an evening out bowling.
Unsurprisingly, sites perform better once they have been given a makeover so news that the firm is on track to complete between seven and nine refurbishments this year is additional encouragement for investors.
But management also look at smaller tweaks to boost financial returns from sites. This includes cheaper lane fees to book less popular time slots. According to the company, 11am on a Saturday mornings is a push versus the very busy 1pm time, the busiest of the week. Hollywood Bowl hopes that this will fill empty lanes and potentially encourage some customers to stay for lunch.
Easy-to-use scoring systems - which allow customers to download their scores afterwards on their email - along with VIP lanes and mobile phone chargers are smart, cost-effective ways of increasing engagement and hopefully getting people to spread the word about the overall experience.
BIGGEST BOWLING CENTRE IN 10 YEARS
Last month the company unveiled its new centre at the Lakeside shopping and leisure complex in Essex. At 34,000 square foot it is the largest bowling centre to open anywhere in the UK in the last 10 years. Potential customer numbers should be boosted be boosted by the arrival of other new attractions to the vast shopping park, including a Nickelodeon entertainment centre.
Although the second half of the year tends to be less strong - assuming that the weather is good, people spend more time outside in the summer - the company should have no problem meeting its full year estimates thanks to its ongoing programme of refurbishments and new openings.
Longer term, with a pipeline of new centres secured out to at least the end of 2022 there is good visibility on future growth and we’re happy to keep it running as a pick for 2019.
