Crispr Therapeutics shares tumble after significant earnings miss
Investing.com -- Shares of Hollywood Bowl Group PLC (LON:BOWL) fell by about 10% on Thursday following the company’s H1 results, which revealed a weather-driven slowdown in trading.
Despite an 8.4% increase in revenue to £129.2 million and like-for-like (LFL) growth, the company’s adjusted EBITDA and profit before tax (PBT) were only marginally higher than the previous year, causing concern among investors.
The group reported a slight increase in adjusted EBITDA pre IFRS 16 to £38.8 million, up by 0.5%, and a PBT of £28.0 million.
While these figures are in line with analyst forecasts for the fiscal year 2025, the market reacted negatively to the short-term impact of the unusually dry and warm weather on the company’s trading performance.
This spring has been recorded as the driest in over a century, which has affected customer footfall at the group’s UK and Canadian bowling centers.
In terms of expansion, Hollywood Bowl is on track with its rollout plan, having opened three new centers in the UK that are performing as expected. The two new openings in Canada this year are trading above expectations.
The company remains confident in its performance for the second half of the year and maintains its full-year EBITDA guidance to be within the range of analyst forecasts, which is between £67 million and £70 million.
RBC analysts noted that they had lowered their estimates toward the lower end of the range back in April due to unseasonably warm weather, making the latest update less surprising.
"Moving towards the bottom end is rarely a positive, but given we have seen the driest spring in a century (370 hours of sun in March, April, May in 2024, versus 600+ this year), we believe this performance speaks to the resilience of the model and the group’s ability to manage cost. The shares may be weaker today, but if anything this performance demonstrates growing proficiency at the group," they said in a note.