Mar
28
Aim-listed Inspired Gaming Group is considering a sale of its business unit which supplies quiz machines to pubs.
The company, has launched a review of the division and said it was "considering a number of strategic options", including a possible sale. Inspired also supplies bookmakers and holiday parks with fruit machines and quiz terminals like "Who wants to be a millionaire?".
Pub customers, who are being forced to tighten their belts, are spending less money playing on fruit machines and Inspired has also lost revenue as pubs are being forced to close. It said: "If this trend were to continue, the board do not believe that this recent deterioration in trading in the pubs division could be offset by gains in other areas of the business." The company warned at its full-year results in January that trading in the pubs arm was weak and would be "monitored very carefully".
The unit accounted for £71m of the company's total sales of £166m last year, a spokesman said. It said the conclusions of the review would be unveiled no later than the company's first-half results in June. Inspired said the other parts of its business were performing well, with strong demand from new and existing customers. Last year, investments firm FL Group made an indicative offer of 385p a share for the whole of Inspired but market conditions prevented it from making a formal bid. Inspired's shares were down 12.75 percent to 183p in mid-morning trade.
JD Wetherspoon revealed last week that machine revenue was down 6%.
