News

Folkestone Racecourse operator Arena Leisure has issued a profits warning after their share price plunged.

Bad weather and punters spending less have forced the UK's biggest horseracing operator to issue a profits warning. Arena Leisure's shares fell sharply after it said it expected its full-year figure to be around £6m.

That would be more than 6% up on last year - but still well below the City's forecasts.

The company blamed the heavy rain since the end of April, which has flooded courses and kept people away.

It also pointed to the string of interest rate hikes over the past few months, which have led to a big slowdown in consumer spending.

Apart from Folkestone the firm runs six other racecourses.

It stages 25% of all the country's fixtures, making it the largest horseracing operator and has tried to tempt people back to the courses with admission and other offers.

Longer-term, it has plans to diversify and add facilities such as hotels, casinos and conference centres.

It said in a statement: "While the company cannot control the British weather, it has taken steps to address ticket pricing and the slowdown in certain sections of consumer spending."