SOURCE: Reuters

(London, England) — Bingo, casino and online betting firm Rank (RNK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) scrapped its final dividend payment on Wednesday, blaming ongoing problems in its bingo and casino businesses.

Rank said its Mecca bingo like-for-like revenues in the 14 weeks since Sept 1. were down 18 percent, admissions were down 15 percent and spend per head fell 3 percent.

It added that Grosvenor casino like-for-like revenues were down 7 percent, admissions were down 5 percent and spend per head was down 2 percent.

Rank has had a torrid time over last year with its bingo business hammered by a ban on smoking in its clubs and by the forced removal of around 950 lucrative slot machines, while its casinos have also been hurt by a surprise hike in tax.

"The short-term trading outlook for Rank remains challenging," Rank said in a statement.

It said bingo revenues were showing signs of stabilizing, with spend per head recovering slightly despite the number of players going into its clubs continuing to drop.

"There has been little or no improvement in trading since its mid-October profit warning and with winter now here it is hard to see any improvement until spring at the earliest," said analysts at Merrill Lynch.

"Its Spanish Bingo and Blue Square operations are also starting to slow," they added.

"Having stabilized the revenues and taken actions on the cost we now have to rebuild the admissions," Chief Executive Ian Burke told Reuters.

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