North East bookmakers Chisholm said it expects trading to get back to normal levels despite taking a hit during the pandemic.
The Ashington-headquartered business, which runs 35 shops across the North East as well as online betting services, said the final weeks of its financial year were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdowns led to the closure of its betting shops.
But directors said trading will bounce back, despite some within the sector predicting some gamblers won’t return to bricks-and-mortar betting shops having instead turned to online sites during the pandemic.
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Turnover dropped from £35.8m to £31.3m, but its operating loss narrowed from £821,187 to £12,713. Pre-tax losses also narrowed from £824,633 to £40,311, although the firm said it had made use of Government grants.
The accounts, for the year ended April 30 2021, show the firm received local council grants of £495,000 and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme support of £308,107.
Chisholm said it has continued to close some shops and, as a result, staff numbers dropped during the year, from 137 to 121.
In a report accompanying the accounts, directors said: “The final weeks of the year were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This caused the closure of the retail business from mid March until the end of the financial year. Grants to assist with payroll and operational costs were received from Government which enabled the business to manage catch flow cash flow during this period.
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“Looking forward there is concern from pundits that business which transfers online during the periods of retail closure will not return.
“This overlooks the social aspect of retail betting which for many customers is as important as the gambling products and we expect business levels to return to normal when forced closures end. The continuing above inflation increases in the rate of the national living wage continues to impact the business due to our geographic location in the North East of England.
“We continue to rationalise the estate had a number of small shops were closed during the year.
“The changes to gaming machining machine legislation which occurred on 1 April 2019 continues to have a significant impact on the retail betting industry.
“The company has identified shops which have a long-term future and these units will be supported and developed. The company intend to have closed all shops earmarked disposed by the end of 2020.”
The accounts also reveal that, following the year-end in January 2021, the company’s IT systems were affected by a ransomware attack. It said a number of systems were affected by data loss due to incomplete backups but that no data was stolen.
The accounts add: “Storage of the detailed EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) Transactions for parts of this financial year were permanently lost. Some detailed information has not been available for the auditors due to the ransomeware incursion. It did not appear to be a targetted ransomware attack and it has not affected the company’s ability to trade.”