Jockey Club Venues, the conference and events arm of The Jockey Club, the largest commercial group in British horseracing, has released figures showing strong growth in non-raceday revenues for 2012, on the back of record financial results for 2012 revealed by The Jockey Club.
The Jockey Club’s £155m investment in state-of-the-art facilities over the last decade continues to pay dividends. The Group’s record financial results display an increased level of business performance for the Group in terms of conferences, live music, and other non-racing events. In 2012, increased non-racing revenues of £22.2m (up by 13% from £19.7m in 2011) accounted for 15% of The Jockey Club’s turnover and helped to drive a 3% growth in operating profits of £19.8m, up from £19.2m in 2011.
The Jockey Club Venues catering partnership with Compass Group UK & Ireland, Jockey Club Catering, also reported healthy growth, with a year-on-year increase in turnover of circa 6%. An increase in non-raceday business means it now represents nearly 20% of all Jockey Club Catering food and beverage sales.
Since its inception, the venture has invested more than £5m improving venues’ catering facilities to enhance customer experience at racecourses; most recently, this has included bar upgrades at Epsom Downs, the Sprint Cup bar renovation at Haydock Park, the Kauto Star bar project at Kempton Park, and the Equus restaurant renovation at Sandown Park Racecourse.
Susie Bradshaw, conference and events manager at Jockey Club Venues’ Cheltenham Racecourse, said: “It’s very important that we see development in our non-raceday business; we have great facilities at all our racecourses, so making the most of these for conferences and events is crucial. It’s great to see that investment and hard work has had a knock-on effect on our turnover, and we hope to see that continue throughout 2013.”
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