Sceptre upbeat despite tough market
SCEPTRE Leisure, the AIM-listed gaming group, saw half-year sales and earnings slip but management insisted it had performed well in a tough market.
In the six months to October 31 the Preston-based group, which supplies around 21,000 fruit machines and other gaming products to the leisure sector, reported a 33% fall in pre-tax profits on sales of £19.7m, down 4.8%.
Chief executive Ken Turner told TheBusinessDesk that the firm’s sale of its fixed odds business in April had contributed to lower figures.
The betting terminal rental business, which it sold for £3.75m to Global Draw, had around 750 machines. Sceptre is now building its machine numbers back up and completed the £1.2m acquisition of 925-machine RV Smith last month.
Mr Turner said: “The sale of the fixed odds machines had an impact on turnover of around £1m. Overall I remain very pleased with my team and the result we’ve achieved.”
But the company acknowledges that ongoing pub closures have also created a challenging trading environment and income from quiz machines has been affected by new legislation.
Mr Turner said he expected the rate of pub closures to accelerate in January but he is continuing to look at organic growth and acquisitions.
