Ten Entertainment says profit to beat forecasts

The ten-pin bowling and escape rooms operator swung to a £4m pretax profit in the year to the end of December from a £17.7m loss a year earlier as sales rose to £67.5m from £36.3m. Adjusted pretax profit was £3.1m compared with a £19.1m loss the year before.

The results showed Ten recovering from the worst effects of the Covid-19 crisis. Adjusted pretax profit almost doubled to £13.8m from £7.1m in the second half as sales rose by one-third to £56.9m.

Ten said sales momentum accelerated into the first quarter of 2022 though it said this effect was likely to soften as people return to foreign holidays and confidence is affected by the war in Ukraine. The company said it expected record profit in 2022.

Graham Blackwell, Ten's chief executive, said: "It is still very early in the year, with volatility in the external market, but we have demonstrated that our business is resilient and are confident that it will continue to grow. We expect the full year profit to be ahead of current market expectations."

Shares of Ten Entertainment rose 5.9% to 262.5p at 08:19 GMT.