The 75-location Hollywood Bowl Group expects to pay up to £1.2m more annually through the rise in UK National Insurance plus minimum wage increases, the company revealed in its half-year report.
It said that its resilience to inflationary pressures, with over 70 per cent of group revenue not subject to cost-of-goods inflation, has allowed prices to be kept affordable and attractive in recent years.
As previously announced, the cost impact from recent changes to National Insurance contributions and national living and minimum wages in the UK is expected to be around £1.2m on an annualised basis from when the changes were implemented in April 2025.
“The group is well positioned to mitigate these higher employment costs given the strong cost culture and low labour-to-revenue ratio of under 20 per cent in the UK. It is the group's view that the tariff changes, announced in early April 2025, will have no material impact on its operating costs.”
Hollywood Bowl, which has another 15 venues in Canada, reported first-half revenues of £129.2m, up 8.4 per cent. Interestingly, while UK revenue was up 4.7 per cent, the revenue in Canada rose by 40.8 per cent.
