Financial year 2023 was another very successful period for the group. Despite the very tough comps in 2022, we grew revenues by 4.5% on a like-for-like basis. That was driven by growth in both spend and volume. The group delivered total revenue of GBP 215.1 million, which was up 11% on FY 2022. We posted EBITDA on a pre-IFRS 16 basis of GBP 64.9 million, and closed the period with GBP 52.5 million of net cash on the balance sheet. In line with our progressive dividend policy, we proposed to pay an ordinary dividend of GBP 0.1181 per share, topped up with a GBP 0.0273 per share special dividend, reflecting the success enjoyed in the period. Looking at the operational highlights, our growth strategy remains unchanged.
The new center opening program is on track in both the U.K. and Canada. We continue to grow like-for-like revenue through the improvement of the existing estate, and our refurbishment program continues to deliver above our returns hurdle rate. It's certainly been a busy year for the business, matching our record revenues and profits. FY 2023 was a record year of investment in the group. In total, we invested just over GBP 30 million on new center openings, refurbishments, rebrands, acquisitions, and the development of our technological capabilities, all funded from cash generated by the business in the year. In the U.K., we opened three new centers, rebranded the three remaining legacy AMF centers to Hollywood Bowl, completed transformational refurbishments and space optimization projects in nine other centers, and installed Pins on Strings in 13 more bowling venues.
In Canada, we completed one refurbishment and started on site in one more. We acquired three centers, and built a strong pipeline for new openings and further acquisitions. Two such acquisitions that have already completed at the start of FY 2024, taking the total centers currently trading in North America to 11. I'll now hand over to Lawrence, who will take you through the numbers.
Thanks, Pete. On slide six, just to show the financial performance. On the back of an exceptionally strong FY 2022, it was pleasing to see continued like-for-like growth speed of 4.5%. Total group revenues of GBP 215.1 million, which was growth of 11% compared to the same period last year, but actually was growth of 16.2% when you exclude the reduced rate of VAT on bowling benefit that we got in FY 2022, which was worth, as a reminder, GBP 8.8 million at revenue, and GBP 6.6 million at an earnings level.
This very strong trading, coupled with our discipline on cost, led to a record group adjusted EBITDA on a pre-IFRS 16 basis of GBP 64.9 million, which was up 7% on FY 2022, and an EBITDA margin of 30.2%. Adjusted profit after tax was GBP 36.8 million, resulting in an EPS of 21.48 pence per share. And as you can see from the graph, graphs, what we tried to do is split out what the benefit was on the reduced rate of VAT, and what the numbers would have been in FY 2022, when taking that out. On slide 7, we set out the growth in total revenues compared to last year, and as previously noted, FY 2022 included the benefit of VAT on bowling.
Therefore, the underlying U.K. revenue, when taking that out, as well as the GBP 6.3 million of Canadian revenue in FY 2022, was GBP 178.7 million. Our U.K. like-for-like growth of 4.1% was a combination of spend per game growth of 3.4%, taking like-for-like average spend to just over GBP 11, as well as like-for-like game volume growth of 0.7%, which is an improvement on the half year number of 0.6%. This like-for-like growth, alongside the performance of the new U.K. centers, which contributed GBP 6.3 million, resulted in record U.K. revenues of GBP 192.6 million. Our Canadian business continues to trade well.
The Canada business showed like-for-like growth of 15.1%, post-May 2023, when we annualized the acquisition, with gains growth of 9.5% and spend per game growth at 5.7%. Total revenues in Canada were CAD 37.2 million, GBP 22.5 million, and as you can see from the graph, the centers accounted for GBP 18.2 million of that 22.5, with the balance coming from our Striker installation business. Total group revenue was GBP 215.1 million. As I mentioned earlier, 16.2% growth on FY 2022. The average family of four could still come bowling, headline price runs at GBP 25, and we believe that maintaining this value for money pricing strategy is a big factor in our continued revenue growth, alongside our investment strategy.
It depends, really, for lots of numbers now. On Slide 8, we set out the income statement. Gross profit was GBP 177.6 million, which was 8.1% growth in FY 2022, but a 14% growth when you exclude the VAT benefit. Gross margin in the year was 82.6%. Now to break that down, gross profit for the U.K. business was GBP 161.2 million, with a margin of 83.7%, with the trend of amusements growing at a higher rate than bowling, producing a higher gross profit overall, albeit at a reduced margin, because amusements have a lower margin than the rest of the business.
Gross profit for the Canadian business was in line with expectations, at CAD 27.2 million, which was GBP 16.4 million, and a margin of 73.1%. The lower margin rate when compared to the U.K. business, was as expected, due to the lower gross profit margin of the Striker bowling equipment and in-stores business, the higher food and drink mix, which is around 32% compared to the 26% in the U.K., and the lower contractual amusement gross profit margin, which currently sits at around 52.5% compared to the U.K., which is over 64%. The Splitsville center has contributed GBP 15.2 million of gross profit, of the 16.4 in Canada. Center-level admin costs, excluding depreciation and amortization, were up 15.4% to GBP 87.6 million.
Of that 87.6, employee costs were GBP 40.7 million of it, so nearly half, and that was an increase of GBP 7 million compared to the prior year, due to a combination of salary increases, the impact of higher like-for-like revenues, and U.K. new U.K. centers, which contributed GBP 1.2 million to GBP 7 million, as well as the full year effect of employee costs in Canada, which was worth GBP 4 million and for GBP 7 million. Total property costs accounted for under pre-IFRS 16 were GBP 36.6 million, with 33.9 of those in the U.K., which was only an increase year-on-year of GBP 0.6 million. Rent costs in the U.K. accounted for GBP 17.6 million of the 33.9. And underlying business rates increased year-on-year by GBP 1.6 million, as the COVID-19 concessions were removed during the year.
However, due to business rate appeals that we made in respect of the 2018 revaluation finally being agreed, only five years late, the group received GBP 2.3 million in cash refunds in the year, resulting in an overall decrease of U.K. business rates of GBP 0.7 million. We don't expect that one-off to repeat in FY 2024. The total property cost in the U.K. increased by GBP 1.1 million in total, but with new centers accounting for GBP 0.9 million of that. Canadian property center costs are much more straightforward. They were in line with expectations at GBP 2.7 million, which is CAD 4.5 million.
Now, thanks to the introduction of solar panels on our centers and improvements in our own energy efficiency, we also benefited in the year, as discussed at the half-year results, from selling off some of our electricity hedge, which we agreed back in 2020. The volume that we hedged was no longer required, and therefore, we sold off at just under the height of the market in the second half, and that benefited the PNL to the tune of GBP 1 million in the year. There'll be no further benefits from selling off any hedges in the future. Total property costs under IFRS 16 were GBP 39.6 million. Corporate costs include all central costs, as well as the outperformance bonus for centers, and they increased by GBP 3.2 million to GBP 25.3 million in the year.
U.K. corporate costs increased by GBP 1.3 million, with the main driver being increased marketing and digital spend. Now, as we continue to build out our support team in Canada, this, combined with a full year of ownership, resulted in corporate costs increasing by GBP 1.8 million to GBP 2.3 million in total. The additional people in Canada include a new director of operations, as well as leaders in marketing, people, and property. Group adjusted EBITDA, pre IFRS 16, increased to GBP 64.9 million, including a GBP 4.5 million contribution from the Canadian business. Exceptional costs, they relate to two main areas.
The first is the acquisition costs in relation to the three centers that we bought in Calgary in February, as well as the acquisitions which were in progress in year-end, which obviously have now been released, one in the U.K. and two in Canada. The total cost for acquisition in the year were GBP 0.7 million. The second is the earn-out consideration, as noted as part of the original Splitsville acquisition, which is an exceptional cost of GBP 2 million in the year, of which GBP 1.8 million will be in admin costs and GBP 0.2 million would be within interest. The statutory depreciation, amortization, and impairment charge for the year was GBP 26.4 million, only marginally up on FY 2022 by GBP 0.7 million.
All of this left with an adjusted profit before tax of GBP 47.8 million, which was down only GBP 0.8 million versus the statutory PBT in the year previous, and that included a GBP 8.6 million, as I mentioned earlier, of the reduced rate of VAT. When you remove that benefit, PBT was up 19.8%. Adjusted profit after tax, GBP 36.8 million, and EPS, 21.48 pence per share, which was up 12.2 pence on prior year. We'll have time for questions at the end for any of those recaps. On slide nine, we set out the inflation pressures.
We've all seen inflation pressures in FY 2023, but we are best protected than most, with 72% of our group revenue not impacted by subsequent inflation, with a reminder that bowling is 100% gross profit margin and amusement is on a revenue share. Food and drink costs account for less than 8% of total revenue, and while we aren't seeing the previous increases, there are still some small amounts coming through. Labor costs are less than 19% of revenue at center level. Now, we aren't immune to it, and the national living wage and minimum wage increase announced in the autumn statement will be a 10% increase on the payroll, which is actually 3.5 percentage points higher than most people had forecasted.
And therefore, for us, a hit of an incremental GBP 600,000 in April 2024 and a GBP 1.2 million amount annualized. In relation to energy costs, we've been extremely well protected from the increases that have been seen due to our hedge, which ends in September 2024. Now, while it would be great to be able to get back to those low amounts again, that was highly unlikely. And we were right to wait until most recently, when we agreed a new hedge, which now takes us out till September 2027. This increase for FY 2025 will be around 30% of the FY 2024 increases, so about GBP 1 million, which compared to others in the sector that we're talking is 50% increases to 70% increases when they, successfully, in inverted commas, agreed their hedges.
We're really pleased with this. We will also be able to trade the market for a lower FY 2026 cost if the market prevails as such, and we'll be continuing with our solar installs, which are now in 38% of our estate. Capital cost inflation has impacted us, particularly as we've seen accelerating our refurbishment and new center opening program, and actually the one that we foresee continuing for the longest. This has obviously impacted on our ROIC, but we are confident this will still be above the 33% target we set ourselves on refurbishment and the 19% on new centers. All of this, plus our wide demographic appeal and strong footfall locations, means we're able to continue to see lower than CPI price increases.
On slide ten, we set out our free cash flow, and we drove an exceptionally strong free cash flow in the period, with group adjusted operating cash flow of GBP 52 million. There's a small working capital in the movement, mainly in the movement, sorry, mainly due to the record center level bonuses in FY 2022, and the near record ones in FY 2023 for our center teams. The group spent a total of GBP 9.1 million on maintenance CapEx, including the implementation of Pins on Strings across 30 more centers. It's now at 83% of the U.K. bowling centers, and solar panels, which are now in 27 centers, as well as maintenance spend in our Canadian business. A total of GBP 7 million was spent on refurbishments in the year, with GBP 2.1 million of that on Canadian refurbishments.
Richmond Hill, that was completed in FY 2023, and Kingston, that was started in September, and is due to finish in January in Canada. The refurbishment of 13 U.K. centers were completed, including the final three rebrands of AMF to Hollywood. And despite inflationary pressures, we continue to exceed the hurdle rate of 33%, as we'll talk about on the next slide. New U.K. center CapEx was a net GBP 6.8 million in the year. GBP 5.8 relates to the centers that opened in the year, and GBP 1 million relates to centers that are going to open in FY 2024. Post-tax, interest, capital, lease repayments, we generated GBP 29.5 million in free cash.
Also, it's worth noting, we paid out GBP 25.3 million on the final ordinary special dividend and the interim dividend for FY 2024, as well as GBP 7.3 million for our accounting acquisitions. Now, post all of this, our cash balance at year-end was a very healthy GBP 52.5 million pounds. But it's also worth noting the three centers we acquired in October, there were no earn outs on any of those, and the total consideration was GBP 7.6 million pounds. On slide 11, we review our U.K. refurbishments, which have continued to pay back at industry-leading rates, with center game performance up 13.2% and lineage volume up 3.7%, and our average payback on capital invested is over 55% for the last 17 refurbishments.
On top of that, it's even more pleasing to see an increase of 4.5 percentage points on our Net Promoter Score, and this is really testament to the continued evolving investments within our centers. We've also noted by some stars in the bottom axis, those are centers that are on their second generation and even third generation refurbishments, which are still generating strong returns. We've also completed already one refurbishment in financial year 2024. We continue to see strong performance from our new centers in the U.K., and as you can see on slide 12, the EBITDA continues to be top in the industry. This is down to our focus, really, on long-term sustainable EBITDA, as well as the quality locations that we continue to focus on.
Our last four openings are on track to deliver returns on gross CapEx in excess of 35%, against just as a reminder, a target of 19%, and on the net CapEx basis of over 45%. Just to note, those centers are not in chronological order. Our successful new U.K. new center pipeline continues to grow. We opened up 3 centers in FY 2023, and have seen some exceptionally strong performance from those. Our FY 2024 pipeline is also strong, with Lincoln already open, as the purchase of a long leasehold unit. The only bowl in Lincoln we're limited to no opportunities for another operator to open in the town center, and the total consideration for that is £4.4 million. £2 million of that is for the long leasehold, and then less than 4.5x EBITDA for the trading business.
We're due to be on site in 2 further locations in January, already on site in 1, and therefore we forecast to open at least 4 centers in the U.K. in FY 2024. Our strong covenant, good relationships with landlords, and importantly, our investment cycle through our refurbishments, is making us the first choice for conscientious landlords looking for a long-term, sustainable tenant. We've secured a pipeline beyond FY 2025, with even more in legals and Head of returns discussions, with one even being signed today. Now, on to slide 13, where we set out our capital allocation policy. The group's highly cash generative business model discussed earlier, and strong balance sheet, means the business is well placed to continue to invest in its customer-led U.K. and international growth strategy and take advantage of opportunities as they arise, while continuing to deliver attractive shareholder returns.
In light of this, the board reviewed its capital allocation policy with the updated priorities for cash in the following order: capital investment into existing estate through refurbishments and maintenance, investment into new center opportunities and acquisitions, including the expansion in both the U.K. and Canada. To pay and grow the ordinary dividend in line with adjusted profit after tax. Now, given our strong performance and our cash balance, the ordinary dividend will be based on a payout of 55% of adjusted profit after tax for FY 2023 and onwards, and any excess cash will be available for distribution to shareholders as the board sees appropriate, importantly, without impacting on investment in the growth of the business. Now, the board has declared a final ordinary dividend of GBP 0.0854 per share, based on the adjusted earnings per share of GBP 0.2148.
In line with the allocation policy, there's also a proposed special dividend of 2.73 pence per share, which will be paid alongside the ordinary dividend, taking full years to 14.54 pence per share, marginally up on the prior year. Furthermore, given the surplus cash at the end of FY 2023, the board's confidence in the strategy, strong balance sheet, as well as the board's view that the business is undervalued on the public markets, the group's also announcing a share buyback program of up to 10 million, which is intended to commence shortly after the AGM. We'll continue to periodically assess the progress of the share buyback program in light of our allocation policy. Investing in the group's growth and profitable growth will be the priority for the use of cash. On to slide 14, our financial investment outlook.
We continue to be excited by the period ahead. We're a strong, well-capitalized business, ready to take advantage of opportunities. We're pleased with the FY 2023 performance, and in light of the favorable weather we've mentioned earlier, in the U.K., we're expecting a more modest like-for-like growth in FY 2024. We will see the full year effects of the Calgary acquisitions, as well as the new centers opened in FY 2023 and those already acquired in FY 2024. We're mindful of the inflationary pressures, and as I said earlier, we expect to be able to manage these through our PNL dynamics. Payroll inflation's marginally higher than expected. Our electricity use is now allocated until the end of FY 2027, and all of these cost increases can be offset by minimal price inflation if needed.
We'll continue to invest in the quality of our estate, with at least seven centers across the group to open in FY 2024, with three already done. 10 refurbs planned across the group, including Canada, and then continued investment in our cost saving ESG initiatives. Given all of this, we expect CapEx to be in the region of GBP 35-40 million. Now, that doesn't include the money that we've already spent on the acquisitions in FY 2024. Just to recap, our final special dividend brings us to a total of 14.54 pence per share, and also a share buyback program of GBP 10 million.
Thank you, Lawrence. On slide 16, we show that how we've grown the estate consistently and sustainably since we first acquired the Hollywood Bowl brand back in 2010. We closed financial year 2023, operating 79 centers that individually generated an average EBITDA of over GBP 1 million, testament to the quality of site selection and acquisition criteria. Since the start of the new financial year, we've acquired three more centers, two in Canada and one long leasehold in Lincoln. We're on site in one new build in Canada, and as you saw from Lawrence's earlier slides, plan to open a further three new centers in the U.K. in the year.
We've developed a strong pipeline, both in the U.K. and Canada, and based on the information that we have in front of us now, we expect to be operating at least 130 centers by 2035. In addition to the new center expansion, we've continued to drive marginal gains through the continuous improvements we make to our offers. Starting with the bowling environment, we've continued to roll out the Pins on Strings technology, installing into a further nine centers during the half. 83% of the estate now benefits from the tech, and we'll be installing into at least six more centers during FY 2024.
The target return on investment of 30% is still being beaten, despite the increase in, in the cost and cost inflation that we've seen, and we continue to drive improvements in both LFL centers as well as Pins on Strings centers as we continue to refine the offering. Our latest new opening in the Merry Hill Shopping Center boasts all of our refined design elements with new lighting, digital signage, and sound, that allows us to vary the atmosphere for the different day parts. It's actually our most successful new opening to date and showcases the very best the Hollywood Bowl brand has to offer. We've also been leveraging the learning from Puttstars, introducing the concept into one of our existing centers, with plans to include into two more Hollywood Bowls during FY 2024.
In the amusement areas, space optimization projects have allowed us to improve machine density and accommodate larger, high-quality games. We've seen 510 new machines installed during the year as part of our rotation program, and over 100 new player positions added to the amusement areas. The new payment options we've been trialing have been installed on some more machines during the year, enabling us to take some price, as well as remove barriers to play. We've been rewarded with a 7.8% increase in the amusement spend per game during the year, and this growth has come from a mixture of both, increase in play, as well as moving the average price, price per play on amusements by 11.7% versus the prior year.
In our food and drink offer, our well-tested mantra of delivering a quality product served quickly, consistently at a value money price point, continues to resonate with our customers. We refined the menu in readiness for the winter trading period, managing to keep prices well below inflation, with our best sellers of burger and chips still being the same price as it was in 2019. Keeping customers at the lanes is important in a capacity-constrained business like ours, where customers buy a game rather than time. In the year, we grew food and beverage sales at the lanes to 20% of all food and beverage revenue, through a mixture of lane host delivering sales and service superiority, and new at-lane mobile ordering for those that prefer to order using their own devices.
We saw a 4.8% increase in our food and beverage spend per game during the year that's under review. On the next slide, we look at technology. For the last eight months, we've been developing our own bespoke booking system, Compass. As our business has evolved, we've become increasingly aware that the current off-the-shelf systems are not suitable for the size and complexity of our business. The open source, multi-channel booking technology that we've developed will integrate with our current CRM tools and handle multiple datasets from all of our different revenue streams. The system has been built to handle multiple currency and tax treatment, and the pilot testing has been very positive. Now nearing completion, Compass will be launched in the second half of FY 2024, through a phased rollout in the U.K. and out in Canada.
Investment in the digital customer journey has continued as we've refined our sales and marketing and our online booking systems. Online sales conversions, center yields, and capacity utilization have all improved through targeted marketing, our upgraded website, and continued use of our dynamic pricing. We do have a strong culture in Hollywood Bowl when it comes to our team, one of high trust, high support, and high accountability. We're really focused on creating outstanding workplaces, and it's one of our three pillars of the sustainability strategy. In FY23, we refreshed our employer brand, Let's Roll, designed to improve communication in our business and attract a more diverse team. The response since launch has been fantastic, with a significant uptick in team engagement, social media, and website traffic, which has resulted in more job applications.
For the second year running, we rank amongst one of the top U.K. best businesses to work for. Our head office was awarded three-star for its working practices, placing us amongst the select few businesses rated as a world-class business. The group team member Net Promoter Score has also increased from the prior period. I'm really grateful for all of the hard work and effort our team put into delivering the record results that this generated this year. Our team members are supported by our industry-leading in-house training development programs, and although there continues to be considerable competition for labor in the leisure market, our refreshed employer brand that launched during the year has made a significant difference in our ability to attract and retain top talent.
When we look at financial rewards, average pay for team members has increased by 7.4%, and we paid out GBP 3.2 million in bonuses to our team members, with every team member in the business able to earn a bonus. Center managers received an average of 64% of their base pay in bonuses, and our assistant managers received an average of 14% of their base pay in bonus for the year. On slide 20, we look at the progress that we've made against our ESG strategy. We have a focus on three core areas: safe and inclusive leisure destinations, creating outstanding workplaces, and a commitment to operating sustainable centers.
In FY 2023, just under 1 million concessionary games were bowled by a mixture of special needs groups and their carers, school groups, and local community support groups, as we strengthened the relationships within the local communities that we operate. As I mentioned on the earlier slide, we were once again voted as one of the U.K.'s top 25 businesses to work for, and our internal talent development programs continue to deliver. 45% of all management appointments came from our internal talent pipeline. Building a sustainability focus within our centers, 82% of all waste was recycled in the half, and 27 centers now have solar arrays on their roofs that generate 34% of the energy that they use through their solar panels.
All of our managers and support team have access to a company car electric vehicle scheme, and we're installing electric charge stations in as many of our centers as we can. This year also saw the formation of the new Corporate Responsibility Committee, chaired by non-executive director, Ivan Schofield. Our U.K. transition plan has been developed, and we are working towards our net zero goals. So turning our attention to Canada, on slide 22, we have enjoyed some real success over in North America in the year. Our growth strategy in Canada, as a bit of a reminder, is focused on four areas: investing in the existing estate, acquiring existing businesses that complement the current estate, opening new centers, and supporting the Canadian bowling market with Striker's products and services. The Canadian operation traded ahead of expectation in FY 2023.
Like-for-like revenues grew by 15.1%, and at center level, contributed EBITDA of CAD 10.3 million. We've made good progress on margin improvement. Payroll to revenue is down to 28% and EBITDA margin up to 34%. That's a 10 percentage point improvement on last year. We continue to share ideas between the businesses, adapting the U.K. operating model to a Canadian audience, while maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit of the original business owners. We were able to sponsor four U.K. team members to take up permanent roles in Canada, one to help in HR, which is vital to growing our operations and evolving the business culture, one to head operations, and the other two as center managers.
We completed a major customer research program to really get under the skin of what people value about our proposition and what we could do to improve, and we've been rolling those learnings into the Splitsville brand evolution program. The refurbishment program's progressing well, supported by the Striker businesses, with one refurbishment and rebrand to Splitsville completed and another due for completion in the coming weeks. Newly refurbished centers have been very well received by customers, with returns on investments performing well above our hurdle rate. For example, profits from the Richmond Hill Center have more than doubled in the period post-completion of the refurbishment works. We acquired three fabulously located centers in Calgary that will all benefit from investment and a rebrand in the coming months. We have a very busy FY 2024 planned.
We're investing revenue generating and cost saving CapEx into the estate to improve the customer experience. In addition to the brand refurbishments, we'll be commencing the trial of Pins on Strings out in Canada. We've been working hard modernizing the Splitsville brand. We're launching a new website, new signage, CRM program, digital marketing strategy, and we continue to cherry pick the very best of the U.K. practices to improve the Canadian operation and margins. As we mentioned earlier, we acquired 2 more centers in October, one in Vancouver and one in Guelph, Toronto. We have a new build due to open in April, and we're in legals on 3 other new build centers securing the future pipeline.
The Striker business remains an important part of the Canadian growth story, and we've a strong order book for FY 2024, and we're in discussions to extend the exclusivity with Brunswick on supply of their products out to 2027. On the next slide, slide 23, we just look at a case study of Richmond Hill. This was a center that we acquired very soon after we bought the Splitsville business. Now, we spent just over CAD 4 million acquiring and refurbishing the center, and it's traded exceptionally well since the reopening, and deliver a return on investment north of 40%. On the next slide, we just set out the details of the Calgary transaction. So we acquired the three centers for a total consideration of CAD 12 million. That's the 4.3x EBITDA multiple.
Now, while the centers are now trading as Splitsville, they're yet to have any transformational refurbishment CapEx spend. From the limited essential CapEx invested and change in management and processes, we've seen a 10% uplift in revenues and a 30% improvement in profitability. We plan on refurbishing all of the Calgary centers in FY 2024, and we'll target a 25% return on invested capital. On slide 26, we've pulled together a bit of a market review. It's quite a long time since we last did one, back in 2017 or 2018. Competition for the leisure pound has never been as fierce as it is today, and while there are many benefits to being listed, one of the downsides is having to tell everyone else how well you're doing.
There's been a real and sustained shift of consumer spending on experiences, with a reported 13% uplift in participation since 2019, and bowling remains the most popular activity in the category, and we've certainly benefited from that trend. It has meant, however, that lots of other operators have started accelerating their opening program, and new entrants have come into the experiential leisure market. Now, Lane7 are now up to 13 units, Roxy Leisure up to 18 units, Tenpin now operating 52 units. And there isn't a huge amount of white space, meaning that we have seen an increase in competition. As an example, in the Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield markets, all markets that we trade in, there have been no fewer than 29 new operators chasing the leisure pound.
There are plenty of ex-retail opportunities around, with landlords looking for leisure to complement the retail offer, and with more and more competition for the space, there is becoming upward pressure on leisure rents. As a consequence, most new offerings tend to be seen as innovative, but need to be more expensive and exclusive. Price, quality of offer, and location remain key, and on those fronts, we maintain a very strong competitive advantage. We're the best value, have the most inclusive offer, operating in, by far the best locations, but there is more competition around than there ever was before. So in summary, it's been another very busy and successful year for the group. Demand for our offer remains strong, and we've worked hard to keep our price increases well below inflation and the cost of our product, fabulous value for money.
We have a strong balance sheet with a simple, proven business model and a capital allocation policy focused on progressive shareholder returns. Happy to take any questions that we may have. We'll start with questions in the room, and then we'll go to questions from people who have dialed in.
Thanks, Scott. Can I ask you, you said you expect a modest like-for-like increase in the U.K. in 2024. Can you elaborate on that, and what should be the component between volume and price, if you can?
Yeah. So, look, we're not going to give out forecasts to people.
Right.
The experts do that. But if you look back, what we've always said is 3, 3 and a bit% like-for-like growth is where we expect the market to be. Last year, we benefited from the weather being in our favor throughout, you know, no snow. It was sunny in June when everyone's kids were at school. It then got sunny again in September, when our kids went back to school, and in July and August, it was lovely weather for bowling and not so nice for everybody else. So we benefited, and we got 4.1%. If you take the 3% and say, "What would it be over a two-year basis?" You'll get about 1.8% to 2% like-for-like growth for FY 2024.
In terms of volume and spend, it's, I mean, we expect a mixture of both, both to be positive, but it's not like a restaurant business or something like that. The incremental volume doesn't lead to incremental payroll, so it's not something we sit there and go, "We need to do this." And also, in some of our centers-
... We're busy already, and we're full at those peak times. And you can start to play around with price on a Monday at, you know, between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. when you're really quiet. But guess what? Most days, everyone's at school, the kids are at school, and everyone's at work, so you can mess around with price and not really get anywhere. Our focus is on trying to build those shoulder periods at peak days. So can we get you to come in at 9:30 A.M. on a Saturday? And if we can, what's the discount that we need to offer you? And that'll be different by center as well. So both will be, in our view, will be the positive growth on both. But where we see the benefit from the weather, the weather is volume related.
I would just caveat that with that.
Okay, clear. And I remember, it was November, December 2021, when just after the, the COVID period, you were among the few leisure venues that could be open and so benefited from that. But then you said that, several people who hadn't been bowling for many years came back to the centers and saw a completely different experience, and so I was wondering, are these people coming back? Are these people becoming regular customers? Do you have any, views or data on this?
I think if you were to look back at where we were trading pre-COVID, in the 2019 period, you know, post-COVID, our revenues are up north of 30%, and then we've comped those numbers and grown from them. So that would indicate, yes, you know, we've rebased, and those people have continued to come back. From a data perspective, I think, you know, it's, it's always really difficult to really get under the skin of the average customer, because when you strip out all the league bowlers, the special needs and concession groups that are coming a lot more frequently, we're still around that kind of 1.3, 1.3-4-
That's a good-
Per year.
Still 1.3, 1.4?
Yeah. But equally, you know, again, it's really, you know, if we were all to go bowling as a group, we would only know that one of you of all, unless we managed to capture all of your data on that visit.
Just another one, if I may. So on Puttstars, it's the only one that basically we don't expect to go. So what would prompt you to start, you know, growing it again?
I mean-
Nothing really.
There's two reasons really why, I suppose the Puttstars rollout was stalled. One, mainly because, and the main reason being, all of the new site opportunities that have come our way, building the pipeline, we've been able to fit in a Hollywood Bowl. And then we always said, "If we could fit in a Hollywood, we would do a Hollywood, because the return is just so much better." The second element was the cost inflation of new site openings.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we have seen significant costs of, not just fitting out in terms of the labor costs, but also the fit-out cost of just the supplies and the fixtures and fittings. And when, you know, we were already on that kind of between 16% to 19% return on the Puttstars, versus the, you know, the seeing the, in the results type, 19%, but returns over 40% for the Hollywood Bowls. It just makes sense to deploy the revenues into the most cost-effective way, or the ones that generate the best returns.
And can I go for a couple? What you said about the weather, and the benefit last year, is that consistent with only 0.7% growth in games? Is that because you've put, to your point about year of management? Then the second question was around, the buyback, the £10 million. So we all know there's always differences in shareholder opinion. Some more, maybe some more private.
Yeah.
Just basically, why 10? And you're not giving a target leverage, were you planning to do that?
With those questions for you. Yes. So in terms of the like-for-like trade, I mean, we saw volume growth of 0.7-10, as you mentioned, and some of it was attributable to the weather, some of it was just the refurbishments. The 1.1% is mostly felt through the volume growth, but we did see it in both. In terms of the share buyback, yeah, we do have different opinions on it, but as a board, we decided this is a good mixture of the two, in terms of a special dividend, increasing the ordinary dividend to 55% of adjusted profit after tax, and also then allocating some towards the share buyback.
It's important to note, I mean, we didn't put a leverage number on, but as we don't have any leverage, we don't have any debt, we didn't put a cash number on either. That's partly because we don't want to be beholden to that number. Actually, if an acquisition came up in the year and we'd set ourselves, let's say we set ourselves GBP 25 million as a target, we haven't, and we didn't discuss it, in terms of actually nailing a number down. But if an acquisition came up in the year, and we felt that doing acquisition was the right thing to do, plus continuing with the buyback was the right thing to do, but that took us below our 25, we'd suddenly be holding ourselves to a number.
On the flip side, an acquisition might come up, which is significantly larger, means that we would go below whatever this number is, and we wanted to stop the share buyback or one was coming up that we wanted to hold on to the money for. So by putting a number in, as advised by our advisors as well, and by the experienced board, it was important for us we didn't bind ourselves to some sort of number that could be broken, and then have to explain why we've moved away from that number.
Thanks. And sorry, last one. The 130 longer-term aspiration-
Yeah.
Are you indifferent between single site add-ons you build? Just because you talked about how much white space coming.
Yeah, well, I mean, in certainly in the U.K., but we've defined that pipeline. So, you know, we, we think there's probably an opportunity for us to open up about 20 more in the U.K., and we've already in discussions on 12 of those. You know, equally, having said that, I can remember sat here in the very first meeting that we did post-listing, saying: "We think there's probably about 20 sites we can open in the U.K." You know, the landscape changes and new opportunities become available, and we've certainly seen as the retail landscape, for example, you know, has continued to develop. But notwithstanding that-...
There is only a finite amount of people who live in the U.K., and we've got some pretty punchy coverage now across the whole of the U.K., which is why we were looking at international opportunities so that we could continue with the sustainable, profitable long-term growth of the business.
Thank you. Two for me. First, just on the amusements, you also talked about new payment options coming through.
Yeah.
I think in the, in the related data, price to play for a lot of machines is still being kept at GBP 1.
Yeah.
With the new payment technology being utilized, is there more opportunity to up, say, £1.10, or would you actually expect a 5% to 10% growth on that, wouldn't see any impact on volume?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's sort of what we tried to demonstrate during the presentation, was sort of showing that, you know, it's, it's a large part of our revenues, amusements, and, and therefore potential risk if we're stuck at, you know, 24% of our revenues only being and then no ability to leverage price. With the change in the machines, so multiplayer machines, we've been able to move price a little bit on, so moving more than for two-player machines or four-player machines, like air hockey, for example, to £1.50 a game rather than £1 a game. And the payment technology enables you to do that without having the impact on, on volume.
One of the biggest challenges by moving to a purely cashless system, and with the, you know, customer is committing to spending that multiple, whether it be GBP 10 or GBP 15 or GBP 20, when you're buying that card. By having the tap-to-play boxes on the machines, then you can move the price to GBP 1.50 or GBP 1.25, like we've done on pool tables, for example. Again, 2-player game or air hockey. Then some of the bigger machines that we've brought in, where you've got virtual reality and motion, so even, like the superbike games, for example, we now have a virtual reality version of that, that's coin-operated. You can then charge GBP 2 to play rather than, GBP 1 to play.
So that there, you've got the choice in the amusement area for the value-conscious customer or those who are slightly better heeled and able to spend a little bit more on the experiences. So long as you've earned the right to charge more, so the motion machine, the virtual reality machine, again, gives you the ability to do that. We've also increased the length of play on some of the machines where we've increased price, so you do get more playtime on the machines and therefore a better perceived value for money.
Okay. And then on the food and beverage, you talked about 20% of food and drink revenue from lane sales and the ordering technology.
Yeah.
Where was that a couple of years ago? Where do you think it could go? With respect to people, say, booking online and also having the option to have drinks there-
Yeah
When they get to the lane, is there any percentages for how many people use that option?
So, I mean, that's, that's been an area that we've grown considerably, certainly post-COVID, where we were doing lots of pre-book your food and drink. A lot of it, I don't really want to give specific percentages or where we're trying to get it to, because actually, they're all levers that we can use to help drive volume. 'Cause it tends to be when you bundle products, you're doing offers. Now, we'll remove offers during the peak trading periods, or when the weather's in our favor, or introduce them to drive volume, drive deals, and get us back on the demand curve. But it's certainly something that we saw a huge amount of growth of post-COVID that we've managed to maintain. And we've been developing our websites and payment options to capitalize on those opportunities.
In terms of where we were before, it was. It probably wouldn't have been too far away from 20%. It was just that it was being delivered by a team member rather than by customers being able to use it on their own devices. Now, what that does is we've not taken a reduction in team. It's just meant that the team that we do have are a lot more productive and can spend more of their time running the orders rather than taking them, so customers get quicker service.
Okay, great. Thanks.
Any more questions from in the room? Off you go.
I think it's pretty comprehensive. Okay, that's all.
We'd have to take any questions from anybody who's dialed in online.
Thank you. If anyone would like to register a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad and ensure you are unmuted locally. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. So that's star followed by one on your telephone keypad to register a question. As a reminder, that's star one to register a question.
Okay. If there aren't any questions, clearly we just did such a great job of the presentation. We'll, we'll close the call. Thank you very much.