Based on these half-year numbers from Ten Entertainment (TEG), good weather discourages people from going bowling. Between January and April, like-for-like sales rose 7.7 per cent, but once unusually warm weather arrived in May this figure soon shifted to a 9.7 per cent decline. By July, post period-end, comparable sales had fallen by nearly a fifth. With sales recovering in August, chief executive Alan Hand called the weather-induced volatility "a blip and nothing more", adding that cost efficiencies – such as fewer staff – had helped offset some of the damage. The absence of last April's IPO expenses also allowed for much improved profits.
The group is currently rolling out its 'Pins and Strings' technology across the estate, aiming for 18 of 43 site conversions by the financial year-end. Mr Hand said older technology had registered one breakdown in roughly 376 games, whereas Pins and Strings only experiences one problem in 1,000. This helped increase the number of games played per stop by 70 per cent, with footfall also up 1.2 per cent and spend per person rising 1.9 per cent to £14.65.
Analysts at Numis expect EPS of 17.2p during 2018, compared with 16.2p in 2017.
| TEN ENTERTAINMENT (TEG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 258p | MARKET VALUE: | £168m | |
| TOUCH: | 252-258p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 282p | LOW: 167p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.0% | PE RATIO: | 20 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 78p* | NET DEBT: | 6% | |
| Half-year to 01 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 35.1 | 0.60 | 0.65 | 3.0 |
| 2018 | 37.8 | 4.93 | 5.89 | 3.3 |
| % change | +8 | +727 | +806 | +10 |
| Ex-div: | 22 Nov | |||
| Payment: | 4 Jan | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £29.3m, or 45p a share | ||||
