Racecourse operator Arena Leisure reports 13% rise in hospitality

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The UK’s biggest racecourse operator Arena Leisure’s half-year results reports a 13 per cent rise in its corporate hospitality for the first half of 2010 (17,000 clients catered for), a marked improvement on 2009.

The results are promising for the operator, which runs seven racecourses in the UK, including Doncaster and Royal Windsor, although still have some way to go to get back to the peak of the market in 2007 when 63,000 came through the Arena course hospitality turnstyle.

Attendance has nosed ahead three per cent, although spend per head is down 15 per cent year-on-year. Arena seems to  be working more profitably, with profits before interest and tax up 25 per cent to £2m (2009: £1.6m). This is after absorbing £500,000 of one-off pre-opening costs at the new Lingfield Park Marriott Hotel and Country Club.

“This is a commendable performance from the Group across a number of fronts,” says Arena’s chairman David Thorpe. “Arena has delivered improved operational performance and there are encouraging initial signs that corporate hospitality business is beginning to pick up.

“Trading at the Lingfield Park Marriott Hotel and Country Club since its May opening is in line with our expectations and development plans at Folkestone continued to progress. The opening was the culmination of a two-year construction programme and an investment of £30m in hotel, golf and racecourse assets. Initial trading has been as expected,” he adds.

Thorpe adds that Arena remains cautious about the outlook in terms of both attendance numbers and spend per head for the hospitality segment. “Summer hospitality performances at Royal Windsor and Lingfield Park Racecourses and bookings for the Ladbrokes St Leger Festival at Doncaster Racecourse in September are slightly above 2009 levels,” he notes.

The Times newspaper reports that Arena’s core banking clientele may take years to return to highwater levels of business, but said the Group was more confident of a quicker recovery from the construction sector. 

3 Aug 10

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