Hollywood Bowl revenues rise, trading in line

Ten-pin bowling operator Hollywood Bowl posted a rise in first-half revenues on Wednesday as it hailed a strong performance across its revenue lines and said it continues to trade in line with its expectations for the full year.

In an update for the six months to 31 March 2019, the company said total revenue grew 5.3%, with like-for-like sales up 4.4% as it continued to trade "well".

The group said further organic growth has been delivered through its focus on enhancing the customer experience through the ongoing investment in technology and the trialling and rollout of proven initiatives, all while maintaining competitive price point.

The company's refurbishment programme remains on track, with the refurbishment of High Wycombe Hollywood Bowl, and the rebrand and refurbishment of Wigan AMF to a Hollywood Bowl, both completed in the first half. It expects to complete its target of between seven and nine refurbishments this financial year.

Chief executive officer Stephen Burns said: "I am delighted to report a strong start to the year, as our continued focus on customer experience underpinned another consecutive period of LFL sales growth, with a successful Christmas and New Year period.

"We are pleased with our half year performance, with results in line with our expectations. We remain focused on delivering further organic growth through our ongoing investment in technology, refurbishments and our new centre programme, supported by our teams who work hard to ensure that every customer enjoys their time in our centres."

Hollywood Bowl opened two new centres during the first half, in line with its opening target, and said it has a strong pipeline of new centres secured to the end of FY2022.

At 0930 BST, the shares were up 2.7% at 226p.

Shore Capital analyst Greg Johnson said the update was "excellent", with "very strong" LFL sales.

"Following the update we retain our 2019F FY profit before tax estimate of £29.3m (EPS: 13.7p). This is predicated on circa 3% full year LFL sales growth. Given the strength of trading in H1, and with the group facing a lower comp (circa -0.5%) in the second half, we have increasing confidence in our forecasts."

Johnson added that he expects the group to be able to continue delivering both solid high-single digit earnings growth and further returns to shareholders.