Rank Share Discussion Threads

[grizzly bare] 23/12/2009 16:52

Looking like green/magenta could be the new uptrend channel.



Grizzly xx

[grizzly bare] 21/12/2009 07:47

Hi Guid - Rank sold off Hard Rock Cafe end of 2006 and returned £350 million to shareholders in 2007. I think it was 65p a share.

Increases in casino gaming duty, restrictions in gaming terminals from gambling legislation, the smoking ban, and general economic downturn all hit trading results.

All beginning to look a lot better now.

It's no guarantee but the charts are looking very positive at the moment.

Grizzly xx

[guidfarr] 20/12/2009 14:55

i note that rank used to trade at over 300p in 2006 and 400p in 2005 - anyone can tell me what was different those days? has the company undergone share splits or perhaps sold some divisions?

[grizzly bare] 18/12/2009 16:46

Well I'm back in with 40,000 total at average price of 82p.

I like the look of the charts again ......and the recent news on vat.

Particularly with Guoco now unable to increase further without a full bid.

Grizzly xx

[grizzly bare] 18/12/2009 09:46

Thought I might buy a few this morning seeing the current price at 81.35p

However I tried several times and was quoted a buying price of 84.4p

Grizzly xx

[grizzly bare] 17/12/2009 09:47

Chart looking pretty good.



Grizzly xx

[grizzly bare] 17/12/2009 09:40

Pretty convincing breakout from the downtrend channel. Looking good.



Grizzly xx

[scrapman] 17/12/2009 03:26

and what do we get , a 2p rise in the share price that has languished at these levels for what seems an eternity,

[guidfarr] 16/12/2009 15:33

from financial times - i'd like to know more about these broker re-ratings... wonder where one can find a good source for that - new-ratings.com doesn't seem to bring anything

BOOST FOR BINGO OPERATOR WITH VAT VICTORY

Rank has won the latest stage of a long-running legal battle with the tax man, after a tribunal ruled Revenue & Customs must refund 25.9 million pounds in VAT collected from the bingo operator. The ruling comes after the pre-Budget report's two percentage point cut in gross profit tax to 20 percent last week, followed the next day by an announcement that all bingo games would be exempt from VAT. Rank's victory prompted some analysts to raise their share price target for the group.

[grizzly bare] 15/12/2009 21:14

Hi Folks,

Just arrived back home from 24 hours travel from north east Thailand for Christmas.

Will update thread tomorrow.

I see we have hit green line upper resistance of downtrend channel. Will it be breakout ...or will it bounce downwards and continue downtrend.


free stock charts from www.advfn.com


Grizzly xx

[guidfarr] 15/12/2009 13:24

grizzly there are two extra links for you to include in the header area please

[guidfarr] 15/12/2009 12:05

well the future is definitely looking brighter for Rank and the company seems prime for a re-rating...

-> the new gcasino brands located in prime areas and sold as genuine entertainment as opposed to just gambling...they even have christmas offers - I strongly feel this is a good strategic move.
-> the revamp of the gcasino.com, meccabingo.com and bluesq.com sites promises well, grosevnor clients can now be cross-promoted with gcasino (playtech) which ensures an additional revenue stream.
-> the increase in gaming slot machines
-> the VAT coups
-> the decrease in bingo duty
-> guoco holding just a notch below forced takeover levels!

for once I do not mind them issuing a trading update. To think that this was trading at some 200p in 2007 and smack me it seems to have been trading at 400p in 2005? [or were things different at the time?]



share price singing to the tune - i wanna to break free, i wanna break free - a jump from here to 86 doesn't seem far off the cards.

[loganair] 15/12/2009 09:57

Hi Grizzly - I was wondering if you would re-vamp the pro's and con's at the header to this thread.

From the Pro's I think 2,6,7,& 10 can be taken off. 1 increased to 29% & 5 increased to a possible £110m (28p per share).

From the Con's I think 2,3,4, 5 and the last of the two 6's can also be taken off.

[guidfarr] 14/12/2009 17:21

after all the recent stream of good news I'm starting to wonder how this stock moves...it has always been a frustrating stock for me

[grizzly bare] 12/12/2009 04:34

Cheers Logan that clears that one up.

Still inching towards green.This downtrend channel has now been intact for 2 months.


free stock charts from www.advfn.com


Grizzly xx

[loganair] 11/12/2009 17:13

Grizzly Bare - It is definately the highest price paid in the last 12 months.

In todays Times

"SMS made a 3.7p bid for Mama, but was forced to raise the offer to 4.75p two days later after being wrapped over the knuckles by the Takeover Panel who pointed out that that it had bought shares at the higher figure within the previous 12 months.

[grizzly bare] 11/12/2009 10:37

"HMRC warned, however, that the appeal against the High Court decision would continue. The hearing will take place in April next year, and HMRC warned that if successful, it would mean that any repayments made as a result of the earlier ruling would need to be repaid with interest."

....of course it's going to continue. Politic. Puts it off until after the election and then the Conservatives have the problem
.

Grizzly xx

[guidfarr] 11/12/2009 10:21

Bingo Boosted (Again) As HMRC Gives Way On VAT
11 Dec, 2009 / GamblingCompliance Ltd. / Scott Longley
The UK's bingo industry received its second boost within the space of 48 hours after Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced that it now accepted that all games of bingo should be VAT free.
The move follows the judgment in favour of bingo hall operator Rank in the High Court in the summer, which upheld the findings of a VAT tribunal that ruled that the tax authorities had incorrectly levied VAT on games of interval bingo.

That decision – which concluded that the authorities had breached EU rules on fiscal neutrality - cost HMRC £59.1m. A further claim for £26m related to the taxation of slot machines is pending a decision from the VAT tribunal, but accountancy firm Deloitte has estimated the decision could cost the government up to £500m should the rest of the leisure industry follow Rank's lead.

Rank has submitted a claim for VAT overpaid on main stage bingo for periods from July 2004. If successful, Rank estimates that the net cash benefit arising from this claim will be approximately £16m (before interest).

The news today will also spell good news for the debt-beleaguered Gala Coral, which is also pursuing a claim with relation to VAT paid on main stage bingo games.

The HMRC announcement came a day after the government accounted in the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) that it was cutting the rate of duty on bingo to 20 percent from 22 percent after a period of intense lobbying by the industry.

A Rank spokesperson said the move on bingo VAT "seems to be a sensible move". A spokesperson for Gala Coral said it could not comment on the news due to the ongoing nature of its case.

Tony McClenaghan, senior indirect tax partner at Deloitte, said the news was "very positive". "We believe that this is the right approach for an industry that has suffered in the last few years with an increasing burden in taxation. The strong decision of the High Court that we obtained in the Rank case successfully underpins the reason for the announcement today – endorsing an important principle of Community laws, namely fiscal neutrality, which requires all forms of bingo to be treated in an equal way for tax purposes."

In a statement, HMRC said that since the High Court judgment it had received representations that suggested the ruling applies more widely to other forms of bingo. It added: "Having considered this carefully, HMRC accepts that the judgment has a wider application to other forms of bingo participation games."

HMRC warned, however, that the appeal against the High Court decision would continue. The hearing will take place in April next year, and HMRC warned that if successful, it would mean that any repayments made as a result of the earlier ruling would need to be repaid with interest.

[loganair] 11/12/2009 09:33

Another £16m (Before Interest) could be coming Ranks Way. There may well be a couple of £Million of Interest due to Rank as well.

That currently makes a total in the region of £80m plus due to Rank from HMRC in over paid VAT. IMO this is what Guoco is waiting for, the claims for overpaid VAT is finally sorted out in Ranks favour before making their take over bid.

RNS Number : 9582D
Rank Group PLC
11 December 2009

Rank Group announcement on main stage bingo VAT claim

The Rank Group Plc ('Rank') notes the recent guidance received from Her
Majesty's Revenue & Customs ('HMRC') regarding claims for VAT overpaid on games of bingo. HMRC's 'Revenue & Customs Brief 75/09' states that VAT claims on main stage bingo will be treated in the same way as similar claims relating to interval bingo.


Rank has submitted a claim for VAT overpaid on main stage bingo for periods from July 2004. If successful, Rank estimates that the net cash benefit arising from this claim will be approximately GBP16m (before interest).


In 2008, the VAT & Duties Tribunal ruled that the application of VAT to revenue from games of interval bingo contravened the European Union principle of fiscal neutrality. In June 2009 this ruling was upheld by the High Court. HMRC continues to appeal the ruling and its appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeal in April 2010.

[guidfarr] 10/12/2009 18:21

UK Bingo Gets Tax Cut – But Calls For More

10 Dec, 2009 / GamblingCompliance Ltd. / Scott Longley

The UK's bingo industry pledged to continue the fight to persuade the government to reduce bingo tax still further after the chancellor announced during the pre-budget report (PBR) that it would cut the rate of bingo duty to 20 percent.
The government said yesterday the move had been taken after "new evidence" had been provided by the bingo industry regarding the taxation on bingo clubs.

Back in October a report commissioned by the Bingo Association from accountancy firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) suggested the government had got its sums wrong when it raised bingo duty to 22 percent from 15 percent, saying that a rate of 18 percent would have raised the cash that the government stated at the time it was hoping to gather.

Ian Burke, chief executive at Rank said the climbdown from the 22 percent rate of duty announced with the budget back in April was a "step in the right direction". But he continued to question why bingo would still find itself being taxed at a higher rate of duty than comparable activities.

"It is still not clear why Britain's bingo clubs should be subject to a higher tax rate than that applied to other forms of gaming and betting."

His sentiments were echoed by Paul Talboys, the chief executive of the Bingo Association, who said the decrease was a "positive step" but complained that the move wouldn't be introduced until next April when the next budget is due.

"We are pleased that Treasury has listened and digested the actual 'facts' of bingo tax and revised the GPT rate. However, the reasons for its delayed implementation until the next budget are not apparent and will mean that the much needed benefit, particularly for smaller independent clubs, will not be felt until April 2010. I only hope that they can all make it."

Stephen Hignett, tax partner at Olswang, said the news that the announcement of the date for when the reduction would take place would have to wait until April was "very disappointing". He added; "So the chancellor's headline-grabbing comment (which got one of the biggest cheers from the Commons) will give no immediate relief for the struggling bingo industry."

Also in the PBR, the chancellor Alistair Darling made mention of the possible move towards a gross profits tax regime for gaming machines, saying that the government was reviewing the responses received during the recent consultation and would "continue to engage with the gaming machine industry" before any decisions are taken.

Rank is behind Mecca Bingo, the second-biggest bingo hall operator in the country with 103 properties, and the company said the move would result in a £2.5m full-year benefit to operating profit.

Anbreen Khan, a director at accountancy firm Deloitte's indirect tax practice said the move to 20 percent would translate into significant yearly savings for each bingo club.

"Although, the cut is only 2 percentage points – it shows that the government is paying heed to a strong campaign from the industry against shouldering a significant burden of taxation," she added.

James Hollins, analyst at Daniel Stewart, pointed out that this was the "first time in recent memory" than Rank has seen a direct benefit come from the UK government's PBR.

The bingo industry has been conducting a heavy lobbying campaign against the 22 percent rate of tax, questioning why a 'soft gaming' industry was seemingly being singled out when harder forms such as betting were taxed at 15 percent of gross profits.

The Ernst & Young report was preceded in the summer by an industry-organised demonstration outside parliament that attracted speakers from across the political spectrum who stood up to defend the industry.

The Bingo Association said in October that 23 bingo clubs had closed in the year to date, making a total of 117 since 2006 when the smoking ban was first introduced in England and Wales. It said that admission in 2008 fell over 16 percent in England and Wales and over 8.5 percent in Scotland.

[grizzly bare] 10/12/2009 17:06

Guid - the European Directive on Takeover Bids came out in 2004 and had to be implemented by member countries by 2006 I believe. It said the period had to be between 6 months and 12 months, but I dont know what the UK decided.

Living out here in the middle of the rice fields of Thailand I have lost touch with such things I'm afraid.

But whether it be 6 months or 12 months, if you look at the graph, it would certainly be well under 100p that they have paid.

Grizzly xx