Scottish smoking ban hits Inspired Gaming Group sales

The Scottish smoking ban has hit Inspired Gaming Group's (IGG) earnings, the group announced this week.

IGG, which provides analogue and server-based gaming machines to more than 20,000 venues across the UK including thousands of pubs, said it had seen a decline in its rents and shared income products in its 1,400-strong Scottish machine estate.

This resulted in an overall fall in total pub incomes of approximately five per cent, "in line with budget and industry expectations".

The group added that "preliminary indications from Wales, where a ban was introduced from 1 May 2007, suggest that the impact is similar".

"The experience in many other countries such as Italy and Australia suggests that incomes fall for a period of time before reverting to previous levels. Our own experience in Italy, where the Group monitors AWP machine incomes operating on its platform, confirms this trend. We will provide an update on the impact on our English machine estate as trends emerge."

IGG meanwhile has reported overall turnover for the 28 weeks to April 14 2007 down 3.4 per cent to £82.4m.

It said interim pre-tax losses were £6.6m, while earnings before interest, tax, non-machine depreciation, amortisation exceptional items and share-based payments came in at £8.4m, up 42 per cent.

It noted that revenues from server-based gaming were up 29 per cent to £34.6m.

IGG said it proposed paying a maiden interim dividend of 1.7p per ordinary share.

The group said it faces challenges from the ban on smoking in public places in England and Wales and the potential for another extended heatwave, but these issues were "well understood".

"In conclusion, the directors' remain confident that the group is well placed to achieve its objectives in the current financial year and beyond."