Rank happy with smoke ban results

GAMING group Rank, which has around 86 clubs in England, said it was "encouraged" by the performance of its Mecca Bingo clubs after the introduction of England's smoking ban, sending its shares up 8.75 per cent.

Like-for-like revenues fell by 4.4 per cent at its English bingo clubs in the first weeks of the ban, but the company still reported a lift in adjusted pre-tax profits from 21.9 million last year, to 37.3m in the six months to 30 June. The fall in revenues compared to a sharp drop in bingo revenues in Scotland following the ban there last year.

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