AGM Statement

Newbury Racecourse PLC

05 June 2026

 

5 June 2026

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:

"2025 was a strong financial year for the Company. Total revenue grew by 6% to its highest reported level of £23.4m. Operating profit in the year was £790,000 and consolidated profit before tax was £1.11m. As a result of this financial performance the directors are recommending a dividend of 6p per share.

"For the 2025 racing programme we welcomed just under 165,500 racegoers to the racecourse for our 30 fixtures, which was an increase of 24%. We had a single abandonment on 9th January 2025 due to adverse weather, the same as in 2024. In 2025 we further demonstrated our support to the industry by increasing prize money to a record level of £7.04m. Any future changes in prize money will be dependent on the outcome of the British Horseracing Authority fixtures review and the overall financial performance of the business.

"During 2025, we hosted some high-quality competitive racing, continuing to demonstrate our ability to appeal to the best horses across both codes and providing our racegoers with some outstanding performances on the track. National Hunt highlights in the early part of the year included wins for the Nicky Henderson trained Joyeuse in the newly sponsored William Hill Hurdle and Djelo in the William Hill Denman Chase. The William Hill Game Spirit Chase on the same February day was won by Master Chewy.

"The opening of the flat season in mid-April, provided wins for Jonquil, Duty First and Divina Grace in the big races at the Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials, with 2025 representing our 30^th year of valued partnership with Dubai Duty Free. In May, the Group One Lockinge Stakes, sponsored for the first time by Boyle Sports, was won by Lead Artist in another strong renewal. The Lockinge Stakes Day was the third year of inclusion for this fixture within World Pool, which is the collaboration between global totes and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. 2025 saw the full eight-race card selected which has resulted in an uplift in associated revenues.

"2025 year saw the racecourse host four Party in the Paddock events for the first time, with racing followed by a concert. The first of these took place at July's Weatherbys Super Sprint meeting, with a crowd of just under 16,000 being entertained by Ella Henderson and Sophie Ellis-Bextor after an excellent day's racing, which saw Anthelia win the Super Sprint, Elite Status win the Hallgarten and Novum Wines Hackwood Stakes and Royal Dubai win the BetVictor Steventon Stakes. Our next Party in the Paddock events in August saw Bjorn Again perform on Friday and Clean Bandit entertain over 11,500 at the Visit Malta Hungerford Saturday meeting where More Thunder was victorious in the feature race of the day. The final Party in the Paddock took place on Dubai Duty Free Saturday in September with James Bay performing after the Words of Truth won the Group Two Mill Reef Stakes, run in honour of jockey Geoff Lewis, who was synonymous with that great horse.

"We rounded off 2025 with Panic Attack proving a very popular winner of the Coral Gold Cup in November, whilst Coral also sponsored the Grade One Challow Novices Hurdle in December won by No Drama This End.

"Across other areas of our business, the addition of the Nursery single-room extension, completed in 2023, has enabled the enlarged Nursery to increase turnover to £2.54m, which follows on from the 2024 OFSTED inspection where the Nursery was rated 'Outstanding', acknowledging the high quality and standards of both the facility and staff. Our on-site accommodation, The Lodge Hotel, delivered income of over £1m for the first time. Our direct share of the Conference & Events business generated income of £450,000 whilst our revenues from the profit share with Levy Restaurants increased by 29% to £850,000.

"Our commitment to improving facilities at the racecourse continued during 2025. We made a significant investment into the Jockey Weighing Room to improve the jockeys and valets' facilities with a larger changing space, the establishment of segregated areas and upgraded exercise equipment. Additional investments during the year included upgrades to the internal racetrack road, improving staff welfare facilities, creating new successful commercial outlets as well as a new highly regarded forest school for the nursery."

For further information please contact:

Newbury Racecourse plc                                                                            Tel: [phone]

Shaun Hinds, Chief Executive

Mark Leigh, Finance Director

Allenby Capital Limited (AQSE Corporate adviser)                               Tel: [phone]

Nick Naylor/Liz Kirchner/Nick Harriss (Corporate Finance)

Tony Quirke (Sales)                               

Hudson Sandler                                                                                            Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

Alex Brennan/Andy Richards

 

END