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Company history
Discover how we have been entertaining Britain since 1937, bringing people together for fun and entertainment.
Scroll down the page to view our interactive history of Rank
1937
The Rank Organisation was established by J Arthur Rank to consolidate his filmmaking interests. The company quickly became a leading UK film producer and cinema owner, predominantly via acquisitions.
1937
“The Gongman”, was first used by General Film Distributors in the opening titles of their films. (GFD subsequently became a part of The Rank Organisation.)
1956
Joint venture with Haloid Corporation (renamed Xerox Corporation) to form Rank Xerox. Profits from those activities were used to diversify into a range of other activities, primarily in the UK.
1980
During the 1980s Rank focused on leisure and entertainment activities, divesting non-related businesses and making a number of acquisitions, including Mecca Leisure for £895m in 1990. Mecca’s business included holiday hotels and centres, gaming, nightclubs, provincial business hotels and Hard Rock cafes.
1996
The Rank Group Plc (‘Rank’) was admitted to the London Stock Exchange.
1996 – 2007
The Rank Group Plc was heavily involved in many entertainment verticals over this period. Towards the end of the period Rank made the strategic decision to focus solely on the gambling sector and started a period of divestment of its many non-gambling assets.
2003
January
In January of this year, Rank acquired Blue Square Ltd, an internet and telephone betting business, for £65m.
2007
March
Rank disposed of its last non-gambling asset, Hard Rock International for $1bn.
2011
July
Guoco Group Limited (‘Guoco’) increased its minority holding in Rank to 74.5%. Guoco subsequently reduced its holding in Rank but still remains a majority shareholder.
2011
September
The Enracha brand rollout across the Group’s Spanish bingo venues commenced.
2013
May
Rank completed the acquisition of 19 casinos and three non-trading casino licences from Gala Coral Group Limited for a base consideration of £179m, creating a market leading position for the Grosvenor Casinos brand taking it into 11 new UK markets.
2018
April
John O’Reilly appointed Chief Executive of Rank.
2018
May
Rank completed the acquisition of YoBingo.es, a leading Spanish digital business for an initial consideration of €23.1m, providing Rank with a secure and strong digital presence in Spain.
2019
October
Rank completed the acquisition of Stride Gaming plc for a consideration of £116m, enabling the Group to accelerate its transformation and create one of the UK’s leading online gambling businesses.
