ARE.L Regulatory News (ARE)

13 Jun 2005 07:01

Arena Leisure PLC13 June 2005 Arena Leisure Plc - Annual General Meeting Chairman's Statement 13 June 2005 At the Annual General Meeting of Arena Leisure Plc ("Arena" or "the Group") tobe held this afternoon, the Chairman of Arena, Roger Withers, will make thefollowing statement: "2004 was a very important year for Arena. Significant progress was made in allareas of the business with record profits and levels of investment in ourracecourse division, the successful launch of At The Races with 55 racecoursepartners following the closure of the former attheraces, and the withdrawal fromour involvement in software development. "We have continued to build upon this strong foundation in the current year.Trading has been very good and financial performance is currently in line withmarket expectations. Importantly, we are progressing with a number ofsignificant initiatives that will materially reduce the cost base of the Groupfor 2006 and beyond, and expect to make announcements regarding their successfuloutcome in the second half of 2005. "Progress continues to be made on the opportunities for commercial exploitationof our land assets, notably in drawing up appropriate planning applications fordevelopment and expansion. Following further detailed consultation with therelevant planning authorities, planning applications for developments at bothRoyal Windsor and Lingfield Park are expected to be lodged shortly. We continueto await the decision from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister following thePlanning Inquiry held at the end of November 2004 into our plans for improvedracing facilities, hotel extension and casino development at Wolverhamptonracecourse, which received full support from Wolverhampton City Council for itsplanning application in January 2004. "Considerable progress has been made with our proposed joint venture withDoncaster Metropolitan Borough Council for the redevelopment of Doncasterracecourse. We expect to lodge a planning application for our joint proposalsshortly and to conclude the joint venture partnership later this year. "At The Races, which celebrated the first anniversary of its launch lastSaturday, continues to make strong progress. At The Races has continued todevelop strong bookmaking partners with most of the major names in BritishBookmaking, established growing, interactive betting, casino and poker revenues,secured additional exclusive international races, most recently from the UnitedStates and Japan, and has led further innovation with the launch of "Bet andWatch" services in partnership with Ladbrokes, and shortly with a number ofother bookmakers. Last month, in partnership with William Hill, At The Races wasthe first UK broadcaster to launch a live daily sports service to 3G mobileusers in the UK, and is available on the 3 and Vodafone platforms. At The Racescontinues to pursue its legal right to receive rebates from those racecoursesthat were party to the attheraces media rights agreement, which is scheduled tobe heard in the High Court in November 2005. "Your company continues to build on the strong foundations laid and the Board isvery confident regarding its future prospects." Roger D WithersChairman13 June 2005 For further details contact: Arena Leisure PlcRoger Withers, Chairman Tel: 020-7495-2277Ian R Penrose, Chief Executive Tel: 020-7495-2277 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialDavid Rydell / Zoe Sanders / Paddy Blewer Tel: 020-7861-3887 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange