(Alliance News) - Ten Entertainment Group PLC said on Wednesday that it expects its pretax profit in its half-year, ended July 2, to be slightly ahead of last year.

Ten Entertainment, a ten-pin bowling operator in the UK, said like-for-like sales growth is up 1.6% from the prior year, with total sales growth up 3.2%. The company added it is delivering sales that are 57% ahead of pre-Covid levels.

Ten Entertainment also said that it enjoyed a record-breaking Easter performance, with its biggest sales week in the company's history.

Ten Entertainment announced four new site openings in 2023, with the site in Crewe opened in February and trading well, the Milton Keynes site ready to be opened at the end of July, building works in Dundee almost compete and ready to open in August, and that work has begun on an innovative new entertainment centre in the heart of Sheffield.

The company added it has signed a new renewable electricity deal meaning that it has energy price certainty until 2026, that is GBP1.8 million more expensive than its previous contract.

Chief Executive Officer Graham Blackwell said: "We have been relentless in our focus on value-for-money and high-quality entertainment and our customers have rewarded us with their loyalty. We continue to evolve and improve our proposition with new sites, new games and activities.

"We are well set to continue to drive profitable growth in the second half of the year and to meet market expectations."

Ten Entertainment said that full-year profit growth is on track to deliver in line with market expectation, and said that it still had a significant net cash balance due to significant strategic investment.

"For the balance of 2023 we expect to deliver low single-digit sales growth. Full year profits are expected to be within the range of market consensus," said Ten Entertainment.

Shares in Ten Entertainment Group were up 2.3% at 286.54 pence in London on Wednesday morning.

By Will Neill, Alliance News reporter

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