Sceptre confident despite drop in volumes

GAMING group Sceptre Leisure delivered what chief executive Ken Turner described as a “credible” set of results for the year to April 30 despite a fall in both sales and pre-tax profits.

The company saw revenues drop by 10% to £38.6m, while pre-tax profits also fell by 16% to £1.6m.

Turner said that like-for-like comparisons were difficult to make as last year’s figures included revenues from its fixed-odds betting machine operations, which were sold in April 2010 “for a substantial profit”.

However, chairman Douglas Yates added that the company’s £1.2m acquisition of the business and assets of competitor RV Smith and the award of a contract by pubs operator Punch to place machines in its managed division had “allowed us to build on the good start reported in our interim statement”.

He said the RV Smith deal had allowed it to improve both personnel ratios and machine density in Southern England – the total amount of machines operated by the firm increased by 1,200 to 22,500, although the weekly take from each machine fell back to £25.47, compared with £25.83 a year earlier. The number of machines, pool tables and other assets utilised stayed constant at 95%.

And although income from its skills with prizes machines dropped by £1m as a result of a higher tax take by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, new contract awards with the likes of Punch, SA Brains and the McManus Pub Company had broadened its overall scope.

Turner argued that the contract wins were testament to “our ability to offer clients a gaming machine solution that is far superior to any of our competition”.

“Trading conditions are not easy but through careful management and dedication we continue to progress towards our target to become the largest machine operator within the pub market.”

The company’s net debt fell by £2.5m during the year, to £13.4m.