Newbury Racecourse - AGM Statement

10 June 2025

NEWBURY RACECOURSE PLC

("Newbury Racecourse" or the "Company")

AGM statement

At the Annual General Meeting to be held today at 12 noon at Newbury Racecourse, the Company's Chairman, Dominic Burke, will make the following statement:

"2024 saw the Company deliver a growth in revenues offset by cost inflation challenges alongside our commitment to prize money investment. Total revenue grew by 16% to a record £22m with trading profit before tax also the highest recorded at £1.1m. As a result of this financial performance the directors are recommending a final dividend of 6p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2024.

"Last year we welcomed just under 134,000 racegoers to the racecourse for our 30 fixtures, with one in January abandoned due to frost. Excluding the Party in the Paddock events and the impact of abandonments, our attendances grew by over 6%. We also continued to demonstrate our support to the racing industry by making a further significant contribution into prize money, with a 18% increase to £6.9m as we increased our Executive Contribution to prize money by 22% to £3.45m.

"We played host to some top-class competitive racing, underlying our ability to appeal to the best horses across both codes and providing our racegoers with some outstanding performances on the track. Highlights in the early part of the year included wins for Iberico Lord in the Betfair Hurdle and, for another Nicky Henderson trained horse, Shishkin in the Betfair Denman Chase. The Betfair Exchange Game Spirit Chase on the same day was won by Edwardstone.

"The opening of the 2024 flat season in late April, provided wins for with Folgaria, Hamish and Esquire in the main races at the Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials. In May, the Group One Lockinge Stakes, sponsored for the final time by Al Shaqab, was won by Audience against another strong field. The Lockinge Stakes Day represented our second year as part of World Pool, which is the collaboration between global totes and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Five key races from the card were included that day alongside which we hosted Hong Kong themed activities around the racecourse.

"The first Party in the Paddock event took place after the Weatherby's Super Sprint meeting in July, with a crowd of over 10,000 being entertained by Sigala after an excellent day's racing, which saw Caburn win the Super Sprint and Elite Status win the Hackwood Stakes. Our second Party in the Paddock in August saw Dizzee Rascal perform to over 13,500 at the BetVictor Hungerford meeting where Tiber Flow was victorious in the feature race of the day. Rounding off 2024, Kandoo Kid thrilled crowds by winning the Coral Gold Cup in November, whilst Coral also sponsored the 2024 running of the Grade One Challow Novices Hurdle won by The New Lion.

"Outside of racing, the addition of the Nursery single-room extension, which opened in August 2023, saw the enlarged facility generate full year turnover of £2.3m, an increase of 19%. We were also extremely pleased that the Nursery was rated 'Outstanding' in the periodic OFSTED inspection, acknowledging the high quality and standards of both the facility and staff. Our on-site accommodation, The Lodge Hotel, generated income of £900k and our direct share of Conference & Events business produced income of £460k. Our revenue share from the Catering partnership with Levy Restaurants increased by 25% to £660k.

"Our commitment to improving facilities at the racecourse continues with further amounts invested on the track and in many racegoer and conference attendee areas, as well as the Hotel and Nursery. We believe in the importance of balancing the investment of our financial resources into high quality facilities for all racecourse guests.

"I referred earlier to the raceday attendance growth of 6% in 2024. I'm pleased to provide an update on our position to date this year, where our declared attendances are now up 21% on the same period last year. This is the result of a number of consumer pricing and product initiatives that the Company have developed for which we are now seeing the rewards. Attendance is one of the key drivers of our raceday income, but in addition revenues across all other areas of the business are performing in line with management expectations and ahead of the same period last year, again demonstrating the importance of our strategy to create a diversified portfolio of revenue streams.  We have also secured two multi-year raceday partnerships and extended the five World Pool races in 2024 to a full eight race card for the Lockinge Day hosted last month. Additionally, we will be hosting four Party In the Paddock concerts after racing across the key summer fixtures, compared with two historically, so the board is very happy with the direction of the business. The Company is currently trading in line with the Board's expectations.

"In June last year we were pleased to welcome Shaun Hinds as the Company's new Chief Executive. Shaun has brought with him many years of experience in the events, hospitality and travel sectors, and prior to joining Newbury was in a similar role at Manchester Central Convention Centre. He is already having a positive impact with all of our stakeholders.

We have also made two further additions to strengthen the board with the appointment of James Richardson and Juliet Slot as non-Executive Directors.

"James joined in January and is currently Managing Director of Greenshields JCB, one of JCB's largest dealers worldwide for construction and industrial machinery. He has held this position for 8 years and was previously a Director of JCB where he held several global roles which included overseas assignments in China and India. He brings extensive construction, commercial and sales experience to the board. 

"Juliet is currently Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal Football Club. She has held this position for over 3 years and previously held similar commercial and sales positions at Ascot Racecourse and Fulham Football Club, as well as other high profile non-executive and advisory roles. She is very familiar with the key drivers of our business and brings extensive commercial, racing and partnerships experience to the board. We are very pleased to be able to attract Directors of their calibre to the company.

"Finally, it is with much sadness that I announce the retirement from the board today of John Dodds. John has provided a hugely valuable service to Newbury Racecourse since 2010, playing a key role in the redevelopment programme which is now substantially complete. This has created an outstanding facility for which we are all very proud. I would like to thank John for his commitment to Newbury and wish him all the very best for the future.

For further information please contact:

Newbury Racecourse plc                                                                        Tel: 01635 40015

Shaun Hinds, Chief Executive

Mark Leigh, Finance Director

Allenby Capital Limited (AQSE Corporate adviser)                               Tel: 0203 328 5656

Nick Naylor/Dan Dearden-Williams (Corporate Finance)                    

Hudson Sandler                                                                                      Tel: 0207 796 4133

newbury@hudsonsandler.com
Alex Brennan/Andy Richards