Hollywood Bowl strikes confident tone with buyback and sales growth

(Alliance News) - Hollywood Bowl Group PLC on Wednesday announced a new share buyback, and raised its dividend, as it reported higher sales amid "robust" customer demand.

The Hemel Hempstead, England-based ten-pin bowling operator said pretax profit fell 3.9% to GBP27.2 million in the six months to March from GBP28.3 million the year prior. On an adjusted basis, pretax profit increased to GBP32.1 million from GBP29.7 million.

Earnings per share declined 2.5% to 11.70 pence from 12.00p, but rose 11% to 14.51p from 13.04p on an adjusted basis.

Revenue grew 9.5% to GBP141.5 million from GBP129.2 million with like-for-like growth of 2.3%, speeding up from 1.6% a year ago.

UK LFL revenue grew 2.3% with spend per game up 7.6%, growing in all categories. Canada LFL increased 0.5% on a constant currency basis impacted by snowstorms.

The dividend was increased by 10% to 4.52p per share from 4.10p. In addition, the firm announced a GBP5 million share buyback programme in the second half of the financial year.

"This reflects our confidence in the ongoing strength of the business and our commitment to delivering attractive returns for shareholders," it added.

Shares in Hollywood Bowl shot up 12% to 291.50p each in London on Wednesday morning, the best performing stock on the FTSE 250.

Hollywood Bowl said new centres in the UK are exceeding expectations and the firm remains confident in its target for 95 centres by 2035.

In Canada, the firm eyes 35 centres by 2032, an acceleration on the original 2035 target.

"Our strong performance in the first half has been driven by continued demand from customers," said Chief Executive Stephen Burns.

"Looking ahead, we are confident in delivering on expectations for FY26, as customer appeal... remains robust, and we continue to maintain a tight grip on costs."

Hollywood Bowl said it remains confident in delivering on expectations for financial 2026, with two new UK centres and one Canadian centre due to open in the second half of the financial year.

By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter

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