Wet weather boosts Hollywood Bowl revenues

(Sharecast News) - Ten-pin bowling centres operator Hollywood Bowl said on Thursday that full-year revenues had grown, thanks in part to the UK's wet summer. Hollywood Bowl said total revenues for the year ended 30 September were up 11% at £215.0m, with UK revenues 2.7% higher at £192.6m. Like-for-like revenues were up 4.1% in the UK and 15.1% in Canada.

As a result, the London-listed group now expects underlying earnings to grow ahead of market expectations.

Hollywood Bowl said its strong UK trading performance, which comes amid a plethora of inflationary pressures, was driven by a combination of strong demand and favourable UK weather conditions during the school summer holidays.

Chief executive Stephen Burns said: "I am delighted to report another period of excellent financial and operational performance.

"The investments behind our expanding offer have increased our resilience during this uncertain economic period and when combined with our highly cash-generative business model, means we are well-placed to continue our profitable, self-funded, growth strategy in both the UK and Canada. The long-term growth opportunity is significant, and we look forward to seizing this."

As of 0950 BST, Hollywood Bowl shares were up 3.85% at 242.50p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com