Hollywood Bowl rolls into summer with record revenues

Hollywood Bowl’s winning streak showed no signs of abating today as the firm rolled into summer with another record half-year of results.

The Hemel-Hempstead based business posted revenues of £110 million, up 20.7% on last year, while pre-tax profits climbed 7.7% to £26.7 million.

Hollywood’s Canadian operations proved to be its star performer, generating EBITDA ahead of expectations at £3.1 million, with a number of new sites in the pipeline, following the acquisition of Toronto-based Splitsville a year ago.

Boss Stephen Burns told the Standard the firm was eyeing further expansion in Canada and wouldn’t rule out building a foothold in other markets worldwide in the future.

“We think there is the potential for up to 40 sites in Canada,” he said, adding: “We’re quite busy with that at the moment before we have time to turn our attention to world domination.”

Burns said there were also “two sites we’d quite like to get our hands on” in the UK but warned that efforts for any major expansion in the UK could be hamstrung by pressure from the competition watchdog, after the firm was forced to divest a number of bowling alleys following a previous acquisition.

The business has benefitted from a nadir in overseas travel over the past three years, which Burns said had rekindled Brits’ love of bowling.

“A lot of people hadn’t been bowling in a long time and their last experience was of their feet sticking to the carpet in a dark dingy environment.

“We’ve improved that experience and we have universal appeal.”

Shares rose 1.1% to 263p.