Audrey D’Angelo
Empowerment company Grand Parade Investments ended the year to June with a 13.6 percent rise in revenue, largely accounted for by a 17.1 percent rise in revenue from its growing number of limited payout slot machines.
This enabled it to lift its year-end dividend by 20 percent to 15c a share.
Not content with the success of its existing investments, it made its first move into the food market late last year through its acquisition of the master rights to operate the Burger King franchise in sub-Saharan Africa. Chief executive Alan Keet said: “Although we are only five weeks into the new trading year, turnover from the three Western Cape outlets… has already reached R6.6 million.”
Executive chairman Hassen Adams said the chain would grow at “an accelerated pace with much of the growth taking place in Gauteng”.
But the group, which was founded to enable previously disadvantaged people to invest in Sun International’s GrandWest casino and Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, is continuing to invest mainly in the gaming industry.
It is investing in limited payout slot machines, in which its revenue from Grandslots in the Western Cape, Kingdomslots in KwaZulu-Natal and Grand Gaming Slots in Gauteng rose by 17.1 percent to R463m.
Since the end of its last financial year it acquired two new limited payout slot machine route operator licences, one in Gauteng and one in Mpumalanga, enabling it to roll out 6 000 more machines.
“This brings us significantly closer to achieving our stated objective of acquiring licences for 7 500 machines in the short term,” Keet said.
Its investments in casinos “also showed a steady profit”, it reported, although it had reduced its holding in GrandWest.
It has acquired a sports betting licence which, Keet said, would focus mainly on South Africa but which was expected to attract custom from overseas. “We hope to have the operation up and running by early February.”
Adams said the two new route operator licences would support the company’s investment in the manufacture of slot machines through a joint venture with German-based Merkur Gaming, signed last year. The machines would be manufactured in factories in Cape Town and Atlantis.
Adams said the group had applied to run the national lottery and would “pursue that with vigour”.
Grand Parade shares rose 6.15 percent to close at R4.14 on the JSE yesterday.