more than a day  
at the races
arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
horseracing lies at the heart of arena’s activities 
our portfolio of racecourse assets provides a solid 
base for the future development of the group into 
a range of complementary incomegenerating 
activities that enhance our racing business and 
allow the expansion of our racecourses into  
365 days a year operations
allweather 
turf and oodlit 
racing 
media 
broadcast
conferencing 
and banqueting
exhibitions 
and events
hotels 
and leisure
golf
hospitality
horseracing arena leisure plc 01 
annual report and accounts 2010
strategy
overview
performance 
governance
financial statements
shareholder information
01 2010 highlights
02 at a glance
04 chairman’s statement
06 chief executive’s statement
08 market overview
11 strategy and business model
13 resources
14 key performance indicators
16 principal risks
19 review of operations
22 managing responsibly
23 financial review
25 board of directors and company secretary
26 corporate governance
30 other statutory information
31 remuneration report
37 directors’ responsibilities
38 independent auditors’ report
39 consolidated statement of comprehensive income
40 consolidated statement of changes in shareholders’ equity
41 consolidated balance sheet
42 consolidated cash flow statement
43 notes forming part of the financial statements
72 company balance sheet – uk gaap financial statements
73 notes forming part of the uk gaap financial statements
79 five year record
79 analysis of shareholders
80 company information
strategy performance governance financial statements overview shareholder information
2010 highlights
operational highlights 
  average attendance increased by 42 
to 1800 ahead of the market average 
growth of 34 
  hospitality attendance increased by 171  
to 45200 
  at the races delivered a 163 increase  
in posttax contribution of £14m
development highlights 
  ling eld park marriott hotel and country 
club opened in may 2010 after a £30m 
development programme
  masterplan proposal for redeveloping 
folkestone racecourse submitted 
incorporating 800 residential units
future growth 
  353 xtures secured for 2011 
  2012 brings the start of the new sis 
media rights agreement with an 
estimated total value of £106m and 
an uplift in annual value of £10m
  levy determination by government 
secures funding for 2011 and sets 
a platform for future stability
  complementary activities will produce 
a greater share of future revenues 
through hotel conference and events 
and catering services
revenue 
2010 £63983000
2009 £65239000
£63983000
directors’ report and business review
adjusted profit before 
interest and tax
2010 £5414000
2009 £4904000
£5414000
shareholder information shareholder information 02 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
at a glance
we have three core values that drive the 
development of our business these core  
values of passion innovation and excellence 
have been instrumental in developing arena  
into the business it is today and will continue  
to drive its growth in the future 
doncaster
turf at and national  
hunt racing
the home of the world’s  
oldest classic horse race  
the st leger featuring an 
extensive redevelopment of the 
racing and exhibition facilities 
hotel and residential planning 
permission received
hospitality 
conferencing and banqueting 
exhibitions and events 
 
folkestone
turf at and national  
hunt racing 
kent’s only racecourse set  
in beautiful scenery in the  
north downs masterplan 
proposal for redevelopment 
submitted to the local authority
hospitality 
conferencing and banqueting 
exhibitions and events

allweather turf at and 
national hunt racing 
set in 450 acres of surrey 
countryside a new hotel and 
leisure complex opened in may 
2010 creating a stateoftheart 
racing conferencing and  
leisure destination
hospitality 
conferencing and banqueting 
exhibitions and events 
hotel and leisure club 
golf
royal windsor
turf at racing 
located beside the river 
thames within sight of windsor 
castle and boasting a series of 
highly popular summer monday 
evening race meetings
hospitality 
conferencing and banqueting 
exhibitions and events
 to nearest thousand
 
2010
29
annual attendance  
2010
199000
 
2010
18
annual attendance  
2010
30000
 
2010
90
annual attendance  
2010
116000
 
2010
26
annual attendance  
2010
119000 overview
arena leisure plc 03 
annual report and accounts 2010
hospitality  
conferencing and banqueting 
exhibitions and events  
golf 
hospitality 
conferencing and banqueting  
exhibitions and events  
hotel 
hospitality 
conferencing and banqueting 
exhibitions and events
southwell
allweather turf at and 
national hunt racing 
friendly east midlands venue 
offering a variety of racing 
conferencing and golf facilities
wolverhampton
floodlit allweather racing 
the uk’s busiest racecourse 
and one of only two operating 
 oodlit courses in the uk 
planning approval received to 
create the uk’s rst combined 
racecourse hotel and  
casino complex
worcester
national hunt racing 
a picturesque treelined course 
with a unique position on the 
banks of the river severn
at the races
broadcasting uk irish  
and international racing 
awardwinning media 
distribution business 
taking uk and irish racing to 
the widest possible national 
and international audience
 
2010
76
annual attendance  
2010
63000
 
2010
96
annual attendance  
2010
67 000
 
2010
 17
annual attendance  
2010
40000
number of countries 
 
25
tv channel average monthly reach
18m
analysis of revenues 
£m
levy 177
media rights lbo 116
admissionsrelated 98
catering 107
other raceday 89
nonraceday 53
total 640
website attheracescom
television channel 415
international distribution 
through gbi racing 
 to nearest thousand 04 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
in my rst year as chairman i am pleased to be able to report 
growth in the underlying performance of our racecourse 
operations we have outperformed the market in growth in 
average attendances opened a new hotel made signi cant 
progress on our folkestone racecourse development plan 
continued the success of our catering operation and at the 
races  atr’ has taken a ma or step forward in its pro t 
contribution from 2012 the new media rights agreement 
with satellite information services ltd ‘sis’ will increase 
income from media rights by an estimated £100m per 
annum and remains the obvious focus of the group’s growth 
story in addition recent major capital investments further 
operational improvements and an increased return from the 
distribution of international media rights through atr will 
provide further sustainable growth following the yearend 
we announced our rst major external catering contract as 
provider of catering services at both the eton dorney and 
the greenwich park venues for the olympic and paralympic 
games in 2012
as a backdrop to arena’s performance and prospects 
the horseracing industry has recently experienced a major 
reduction in the level of funding received from the levy on 
bookmakers which when coupled with conditions in the uk 
economy has exerted considerable nancial pressures on  
all of racing the yield from the levy is estimated to fall to 
£648m in 201011 as a result of the movement of internet 
and telephone betting ‘offshore’ the impact of overseas 
betting operators and betting exchanges the levy is 
fundamental to the support of horse racing in the uk and 
it is our belief that all parties should seek to maintain it in a 
modernised and restructured form the recent determination 
by government of the basis of the 201112 scheme to deliver 
a yield of £737m to £808m is encouraging in that it provides 
stability for funding at least at the current level in the longer 
term it will be important for the sustainability of the levy for 
a future solution to encompass offshore operators and 
betting exchanges and their customers 
the group’s seven racecourses staged a total of 352 
 xtures in the year to 31 december 2010 2009 370 with 
the average attendance increasing by an industryleading 
42 to 1800 2009 1727 total attendance was 634000 
2009 639000 including 60000 people 2009 53000 
attending the ladbrokes st leger festival at doncaster 
racecourse hospitality attendance in 2010 increased 
by 171 to 45200 2009 38600 which is encouraging 
the uk racing industry reported total attendance across 
all racecourses of 58 million up from 57 million in 2009 
with average attendances up by 34 2009 00
strength of the business
ready for growth
arena is extremely well 
placed to capitalise on future 
growth through media rights 
operational performance and 
further estate development 
opportunities
chairman’s statement
david thorpe 
chairman
  ownership of racing media rights 
that are leveraged through uk 
and international distribution
 increasingly diverse income streams
  cashgenerative and wellrun  
operating businesses
  solid assetbacked base with 
opportunities for value realisation overview
arena leisure plc 05 
annual report and accounts 2010
in october arena submitted its masterplan proposal for the 
redevelopment of folkestone racecourse to shepway district 
council ‘sdc’ as part of sdc’s process for drawing up its 
new local development framework the proposal is designed 
to safeguard the longterm future of folkestone racecourse 
and entails a complete rebuild of the racecourse and the 
introduction of approximately 800 residential units sdc is 
likely to report in the middle of 2011 after which there will  
be an examinationinpublic which is likely to conclude in 
spring 2012
on 1 march 2010 arena’s 4585 af liate atr commenced 
its joint venture gbi racing which provides a uni ed service 
for the international distribution of media rights from all uk 
and irish racecourses cost savings from this combined 
operation together with associated income growth and 
improved performance in atr’s website and tv channel 
businesses resulted in arena’s share of atr’s earnings 
increasing by 163 to £14m 2009 £05m the royalty 
payments made directly to the group’s racecourses by atr 
under the terms of the media rights agreement increased 
by over 40 to £20m 2009 £14m
the board is pleased to announce that it is proposing 
a maintained nal dividend for 2010 of 038p per share  
2009 038p per share in line with our stated policy 
no interim dividend was paid during the year 2009 none
i was appointed to the board as chairman on 19 may 2010 
my predecessor raymond mould had been chairman of 
arena for four years during which time the group initiated 
its exciting real estate strategy established a successful 
inhouse catering function and secured a transformational 
agreement with sis for the supply of media rights post2011 
on behalf of the board i would like to thank raymond for 
his outstanding contribution to the development of arena 
there were no other changes to the board during the year
since my appointment i have come to appreciate even more 
the exceptional dedication and professionalism of arena’s 
employees in my opinion they are second to none in their 
commitment to delivering an excellent product and service 
and i would like to convey the thanks of the board to each  
of them
looking forward 2011 will be another challenging year 
primarily as a result of the impact of the already announced 
reductions in levy funding as a result our expectation is that 
group pro tability is unlikely to see a material uplift from 
2010 i have highlighted the strengths of the arena business 
and my belief is that the group is extremely well placed to 
capitalise on future growth through media rights operational 
performance and further estate development opportunities 
2012 will be an exciting year in this respect
david thorpe 
chairman 
7 march 2011
for the full year arena’s adjusted pro t before interest and 
tax was £54m an increase of 104 from £49m in 2009 
before a £04m gain on asset disposals arena’s total 
revenue for 2010 was £640m down £12m 2009 £652m 
following a £38m reduction in funding from the levy which 
predominantly impacted prize money in the year income from 
media rights provided into licensed betting of ces ‘lbos’ 
was consistent at £116m 2009 £116m despite fewer 
 xtures being staged nonracing income has grown and more 
than half of the growth was generated by the ling eld park 
marriott hotel bringing the share of revenue from activities 
not directly related to horseracing to 119 2009 87
pro t before tax was £36m 2009 £41m including a £04m 
gain on asset disposals within this the net nance expense 
was £18m 2009 £12m the increase of £06m being due 
predominantly to the funding costs of the ling eld park 
marriott hotel development no longer being capitalised as 
part of the cost of construction following its opening in may 
basic earnings per share were 102p 2009 116p down 
121 principally as a result of this increased nance cost
the rst customers of the newly constructed ling eld park 
marriott hotel and country club were welcomed in midmay  
the hotel is the centrepiece of the £300m redevelopment of 
ling eld park that creates the uk’s rst integrated hotel golf 
leisure and racing complex we are delighted with the physical 
product service levels and overall quality of this addition 
to our portfolio and are excited by the prospects of this 
complementary asset which we expect to reach maturity 
through 2012 and into 2013 preopening costs in the year 
were £05m 2009 £02m inline with our expectations
 maximise the value of intellectual property  
 rights through sis and atr
  investment in major assets to continue 
diversi cation
   leverage core functions to extract value
 – externally with catering and
 – through operational ef ciencies
chairman’s statement
strategic opportunities  06 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
building operational excellence
in 2010 we continued to make 
good progress in all areas of 
our strategy whilst maintaining 
our focus on racing operations 
and further expanding our other 
income sources
operating overview
operating results for the year ended 31 december 2010  
were encouraging in an environment that was heavily 
in uenced by external factors including the continued 
challenging economic conditions the pressures on funding 
caused by the reduced levy yield from bookmakers and the 
extreme weather conditions in both the early and later parts 
of the year despite these challenges we have been able to 
increase underlying adjusted pro t before interest and tax  
by 104 to £54m 2009 £49m in so doing we have 
increased the pro t contribution from racecourse operations 
by 38 to £72m 2009 £70m atr has shown excellent 
growth and contributed £14m to arena through our 4585 
equity share 2009 £05m
we have been able to improve average attendances 
hospitality revenues and catering pro ts in 2010 the 
raceday experience that we offer continues to evolve with our 
highquality catering offering proving an ever more important 
element in differentiating our raceday customer experience 
themed racedays whether the more traditional ‘ladies day’  
or newer ‘racing and music’ nights ‘family fundays’ or  
other speci c events have proved increasingly popular  
these events not only provide a broader appeal for the 
racegoer but also allow us to target our marketing activities 
in a consumerspeci c way we have further plans for 2011 
to build on this success with additional themed days and an 
evolution of our marketing approach including online through 
our website and social media channels as well as with 
greater customer relationship management
arena’s racing operations are recognised for their quality 
and for the professionalism and dedication of our racing 
staff these strengths combined with the exibility of our 
three allweather racecourses enabled the group to stage 
352 xtures in the year across our seven racecourses 
including during periods of severe adverse weather during 
december 2010 48 of scheduled uk racing was lost to 
the weather conditions however arena staged the expected 
number of xtures with six abandonments being replaced with 
six extra xtures at short notice in total we lost 18 xtures 
in the year 2009 eight and staged 14 extra xtures at short 
notice 2009 four the net impact of december’s weather 
conditions on arena’s pro t was a £03m reduction as a result 
of a 14000 fall in total attendance compared to the prior year 
and a number of cancelled nonracing meetings and events
our inhouse catering operation is fully integrated into each 
racecourse allowing us to utilise synergies across each site 
and align revenue generation on a groupwide basis we are 
able to leverage expertise through shared resources and 
purchasing power through national supplier contracts quality 
of product and service one of the key drivers of our inhouse 
strategy has continued to improve from an already high level 
on 10 february 2011 we announced that arena had 
successfully tendered to the london organising committee  
of the olympic games and paralympic games ‘locog’ and 
had been awarded the contract to provide catering services at 
both the eton dorney and the greenwich park venues as part 
of the olympic and paralympic games in 2012 eton dorney 
will be home to the sprint canoeing and rowing events and 
greenwich park will be home to the equestrian and modern 
pentathlon events the contract contains elements of both 
 xed income and variable income that is dependent upon the 
numbers of attendees and spend per head and the board 
chief executive’s statement
mark elliott
chief executive
2010 highlights
  352 xtures staged representing 25  
of uk racing
 average attendance increased by 42
  hospitality attendance increased by 171
  ling eld park marriott hotel and country 
club opened in may 2010
  masterplan proposal for the redevelopment 
of folkestone racecourse submitted
  atr pro t contribution increased by 163
  adjusted to exclude gains on the disposal of assets  
2010 £nil 2009 £04m
  before the impact of preopening costs of the ling eld park marriott 
hotel development of £05m 2009 £02m overview
arena leisure plc 07 
annual report and accounts 2010
refurbishment of the weighing room and jockeys’ facilities 
this rst phase project is expected to cost £10m and 
complete in time for the 2011 racing season
industry funding
reductions in funding from the levy are having a major impact 
on racecourses and all participants in the racing industry the 
yield from the levy on bookmakers has fallen from £754m 
in 200910 to an estimated £648m in 201011 with a 
consequent impact on the funds distributed to racing arena 
suffered a reduction in funding for 2010 which had a £03m 
pro t impact through reduced direct incentive payments and 
prize money contributions which were then supplemented 
by arena as previously announced the impact on 2011 is 
more signi cant with further reductions to xture incentive 
payments of £08m and reductions in payments to support 
operational running costs of £07m both of which will directly 
impact pro t the levy board has also taken the unusual step 
of making certain xtures available with either no or partial 
funding for prize money arena has secured 48 partially funded 
 xtures and 36 xtures with no funding for prize money which 
whilst each of these will still be pro table and are important in 
maintaining our xture list will be consequently less pro table 
than fully funded xtures
the racing industry and bookmakers failed to reach agreement 
on the form of the levy scheme for 201112 and so it was 
referred to government for ‘determination’ on 16 february 
2011 a statement from the minister responsible set out the 
new terms these are estimated to deliver a yield of £737m 
to £808m which would be above the level of the current 
2011 budgeted levy expenditure of £600m our expectation 
is that this uplift will predominantly bene t prize money which 
will assist in improving race programmes andor levy board 
reserves and will therefore have minimal shortterm impact 
on racecourse pro tability over the medium term it will help 
to protect growth maintenance of the levy in a revised form 
is considered important by the arena board and in the medium 
term we will seek a solution that addresses offshore operators 
and betting exchanges and their customers that have so far 
not been addressed by the current ‘determination’
outlook
despite a challenging trading environment arena’s core 
business moved forward successfully in 2010 improved 
average racecourse attendances together with good 
development of atr’s international media rights business 
have helped to mitigate the continuing pressure on hospitality 
spend and the impact of reduced industry funding the 
review of operations on page 19 provides further details 
arena remains well placed with its increasingly diversi ed 
income streams notably through inhouse catering atr 
media distribution and the ling eld park marriott hotel 
however due to the signi cant reduction in levy yield we 
expect another challenging year and on that basis we do 
not anticipate material overall growth in 2011 trading in 
the current year to date is in line with these expectations 
with the signi cant successes achieved over the last few 
years the prospects for 2012 are signi cantly brighter
mark elliott 
chief executive 
7 march 2011
currently estimates that arena’s 2012 net pro t contribution 
from the contract will be in the range of £05m to £10m
media rights
arena licenses the right to use the media content of racing 
from its racecourses through two main channels to lbos 
in the uk and ireland and internationally online and via 
nonterrestrial tv through atr revenue from these rights 
amounted to £136m 2009 £130m and represents 213 
of total revenue 2009 199 
the group has secured 353 scheduled xtures for 2011  
and we have a reasonable expectation that we will be able 
to secure a similar xture list for 2012 and beyond each 
of these xtures will generate income from the lbo market 
which from 1 january 2012 will arise pursuant to a new 
 veyear contract with sis the board has estimated that this 
new contract will have a total value of £1060m over its term 
which compares to the current veyear contract that will have 
delivered an estimated £556m of income to arena between 
2007 and 2011 advanced payments of £125m were 
received by arena on both 22 july 2009 and 22 july 2010  
a third payment of £70m is due on 22 july 2011 the balance 
of the estimated revenue is due over the veyear term and 
is linked to the number of races run at arena’s racecourses
real estate development
arena has been successful in achieving planning permissions 
and executing developments that both enhance racecourse 
assets and create value from surplus land during 2010 the 
most recent of these developments was completed and the 
ling eld park marriott hotel and country club opened in may 
after a £300m investment
arena is also pursuing development projects at four  
other racecourses 
  in october 2010 arena submitted its masterplan for 
the redevelopment of folkestone racecourse as part of 
sdc’s process for drawing up its new local development 
framework the proposal safeguards the future of the 
racecourse via a complete rebuild funded by the 
introduction of approximately 800 residential units sdc 
is likely to report in the middle of 2011 after which there 
will be an examinationinpublic which is likely to conclude 
in spring 2012
  wolverhampton racecourse has planning consent for a 
combined hotel and casino development that extends the 
existing hotel from 54 to 170 bedrooms this project is 
dependent upon the grant of a small casino licence from 
wolverhampton city council it is anticipated that tender 
applications will be invited for this licence in august 2011 
with the nal award expected in summer 2012 we will 
participate in the tender and our belief is that the mixeduse 
scheme of casino racecourse and an extension to the 
existing hotel will provide a compelling proposition
  doncaster racecourse has planning consent for a 
120bedroom hotel and 34 residential units this consent 
was recently extended until mid2013 the board remains 
con dent of the commercial viability of this scheme and 
of its complementary nature to the existing facilities and
  at royal windsor racecourse the rst part of a medium
term redevelopment programme was commenced with the 
construction of a new entrance building housing of ces 
and a food outlet there will also be an expansion and 
chief executive’s statement 08 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
consumer demandeconomic conditions
whilst the uk has technically been out of recession throughout 
2010 any recovery in demand and consumer spend levels 
has been slow to materialise arena’s racecourses tend 
to operate in predominantly local markets with individual 
characteristics of demand across the group we have seen 
some improvement in business levels but this remains fragile 
and hence we remain cautious on signi cant growth for 2011
outside our core racing business there has been some 
improvement in demand for conference and events business 
although in the later part of the year occupancy levels at 
the ling eld park marriott hotel were depressed in keeping 
with market conditions at other uk provincial hotels with the 
freezing weather also causing a number of conference and 
event cancellations looking forward we have experienced 
some good levels of enquiries for events business in the early 
part of 2011 but lead times remain very short and visibility 
of bookings for later in the year is limited
racecourses and attendances
the pro le of racecourses in 2010 remained unchanged from 
that in 2009 with 60 racecourses in operation more than half 
of these racecourses are owned or managed by one of the three 
main racing groups arena northern racing and jockey club 
racecourses the remaining independent racecourses have a 
mixture of public and private ownership structures across the 
60 racecourses a total of 1392 xtures were staged in 2010 
2009 1427 xtures of which arena hosted 352 2009 370 
representing 25 2009 26 arena’s unique portfolio 
includes three of the four allweather racetracks in the uk 
enabling it to race many more times each week through all 
weeks of the year and at wolverhampton in the evenings 
under oodlights in 2011 the industry has scheduled 
a total of 1480 xtures of which arena will stage 353
ownership
number of  
racecourses
20 1 0  
 xtures
arena leisure plc 7 352 25
northern racing 10 209 15
jockey club racecourses 14 346 25
independent 29 48535
total uk racecourses 60 1392 100
 including ffos las under management
total attendance across all uk racecourses was 58 million 
slightly ahead of 2009 57 million historic trends have 
shown that public attendance at racecourses is relatively 
resilient to the economic cycle and this has continued to be 
the case in recent times average attendance grew by 34 
to 4145 2009 4008 and would have been higher without 
the major impact of december’s freezing weather when 
nearly a half of all uk race meetings were abandoned the 
racing industry launched its ‘racing for change’ initiative with 
the speci c intention of improving the quality and perception 
of racing and broadening its appeal a free racing week in april 
generated over 40000 in attendance and included meetings at 
arena’s wolverhampton and doncaster racecourses market 
statistics on hospitality trends are not readily available 
however taking arena’s performance as an indication 
we have seen some moderate recovery in business levels 
in 2010 with consumers seeking value for money however 
admissionsrelated revenues are only moderately higher 
market overview
despite economic conditions remaining dif cult 
the racing industry has seen an overall increase in 
attendances in 2010 arena’s seven racecourses have 
again hosted more than a quarter of all uk racing with 
above average attendance growth in the year
banqueting 
all of arena’s 
racecourses offer 
conference and 
banqueting facilities 
on and off racedays
hospitality 
arena’s team of 
chefs serve up to 
85000 people in 
hospitality suites and 
restaurants each year strategy
arena leisure plc 09 
annual report and accounts 2010
industry funding
a critical issue facing the racing industry through 2010 and 
2011 is the signi cant decline in the yield of the levy the levy 
on bookmakers’ pro ts from uk horseracing has provided 
signi cant funds to racing for nearly 50 years the largest 
proportion provides for prize money followed by contributions 
to the costs of running racing and to central and administrative 
functions in the past the levy reached a peak of £1153m 
and for the current scheme that runs until the end of march 
2011 the expected yield is £648m this substantial fall is 
largely the result of the movement offshore of previously 
ukdomiciled telephone and internet betting the growth of 
offshore online bookmakers the advent of betting exchanges 
and the increasing number of high street betting shops falling 
outside the full levy charge reductions in funding levels have 
substantially impacted prize money levels and in 2011 will 
have an impact on racecourse pro tability through reductions 
in race meeting cost contributions in addition some xtures 
in 2011 will not receive any or will receive only partial prize 
money funding with racecourses choosing to selffund these 
meetings at consequently reduced pro t levels
following the failure to agree the mechanism for the calculation 
of the levy for the period 201112 that scheme was referred to 
government for ‘determination’ in february 2011 the 
determination was announced with an estimated yield of 
£737m to £808m the scheme will be based on an increased 
headline rate of 1075 of uk horseracing gross pro ts 
201011 100 with a reduction in the pro t threshold below 
which lbos pay a reduced rate to £50000 201011 £89000
catering and hospitality
in 2012 arena leisure catering will deliver its rst major 
external catering supply contract with an estimated total 
customer base of 
 1000 000
strategy
levy yield £m 
 
200910
200809
200708
200607
200506
200405
200304
200203
200102
200001
754
201011 648
906
1153
992
993
1056
1107
799
729
603
arena leisure plc 09 
annual report and accounts 2010
in 2007 arena established its own inhouse 
catering operation which has quickly gained 
a reputation for highquality and excellent 
service standards
in 2010 pro ts from catering operations exceeded £20m 
for the second year running revenues were £107m 
representing 167 of the group’s total
 £20m in 2010 we achieved
£11 6m
the current contract is in ationlinked and  
will have delivered an estimated £556m over its  
 veyear term
10 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
media rights
media rights for the distribution of racing 
content to lbos will be licensed to sis 
from january 2012 under a new veyear 
agreement revenues from this contract 
will be approximately double those of the 
current agreement
from 2012 we estimate an average £212m per annum 
from the new veyear sis contract which has an estimated 
value over its term of
 £1 0 6  0 m arena leisure plc 11 
annual report and accounts 2010
strategy
strategy and business model
our portfolio of racecourse 
assets provides a solid base for 
future development of the group 
into a range of complementary  
incomegenerating activities
the key aspects of arena’s strategy are 
encompassed in the following themes 
  continuing to capitalise on the 
intellectual property value of the 
rights to racing content that can be 
sold through intermediaries in the 
uk and in international markets
   investing in major developments 
that allow continued diversi cation 
of racecourse earning streams
   leveraging the core fundamentals 
of our operating business through
 – racing operations
 –  catering inhouse and for third  
parties and
 – venue and facilities management
   acquisitions that build on our core 
skills and operations these are likely 
to be opportunistic in nature
arena has been successful in exploiting the value of its racing 
media rights via licence to bookmakers for use in lbos and 
internationally through atr this product is unique in uk racing 
with our seven racecourses accounting for over onequarter 
of all uk horseracing and the ability to supply live content 
throughout the year during the day and into the evening
the group has secured planning consents and managed 
the subsequent development of leisure assets on our 
racecourses doncaster racecourse was redeveloped and 
reopened in 2007 and the ling eld park marriott hotel 
and leisure development completed in 2010 future major 
projects include the wolverhampton ‘racino’ and the 
doncaster hotel and residential scheme which both have 
planning consent we are progressing and remain hopeful 
of a successful residential planning application at folkestone 
racecourse allowing the complete redevelopment of that site 
and securing the future of the racecourse
the cashgenerative operational business has remained 
consistently pro table through a dif cult trading market and 
has continued to develop in terms of both operating margins 
and the quality and variety of product that we are able to 
offer customers having established our inhouse catering 
operation in 2007 we have now been able to secure our rst 
major outside contract with the provision of catering services 
to two london olympic venues in 2012 
arena is not dependent on any single revenue stream or 
revenue driver with almost 50 of the company’s revenues 
derived from longterm contracted sources such as the levy 
and media rights income combined with additional hotel golf 
and events revenues arena has positioned itself to ensure 
that the company is not dependent on revenues generated 
purely by attendance
fixtures and  
races 
public and  
hospitality  
attendance
nonracing  
activities
admissions revenue
catering income
utilising racecourse  
facilities
other leisure
prize money 
integrity costs 
transmission to lbos in uk and ireland
international media rights 
sponsorship 
oncourse betting commission 
racecards and advertising
onthegate sales 
advanced sales 
hospitality boxes 
annual badges
food and beverage retail 
restaurants 
hospitality 
concessions
conference and banqueting 
exhibitions and events
hotels 
golf courses 
leisure club
levy funding
uk media rights
other racing income
key business driver income stream activity 12 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
12 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
hotel and leisure
ling eld park marriott hotel and country 
club is the uk’s rst integrated hotel 
leisure racing golf and events venue 
offering 365 days a year entertainment
by 2013 we expect ling eld park’s share of revenue from 
hotel leisure conference and events to be 
30
in may 2010 the hotel welcomed its rst  
paying guests following completion of an  
ontime and onbudget direct investment of
£300m strategy
arena leisure plc 13 
annual report and accounts 2010
resources
the group achieves its strategic and business objectives 
through the deployment of key resources including the people  
it employs relationships with customers and suppliers and 
intellectual property inherent in the business
people
the skills and dedication of our employees are key to the 
success of arena’s business recognising this the group 
devotes itself to the recruitment training and retention of 
the highest calibre employees 
employees are rewarded according to their contribution and 
capability and to incentivise them to support the group’s 
activities and strategies arena’s reward framework takes into 
account incentives bene ts share schemes and long term 
incentive plan ‘ltip’ awards as well as base pay
emphasis is placed on the training and development of staff to 
maintain high morale and motivation arena employs a group 
training of cer who is responsible for overseeing the training 
and development of all staff regular training is provided for 
racecourse management teams and they are tasked with 
ensuring the development of their staff a regular review 
process is in place to monitor these procedures ensuring 
that the development motivates staff as evidenced by the 
low staff turnover rate across the group
on racedays arena relies on a casual workforce for whom 
the group is responsible for training and development the 
group aims to provide a highlevel of training to encourage 
individuals to work for arena regularly enabling the group 
to develop them further thus meeting arena’s objective 
of providing quality service to all customers
customers
the group has multiple customers across distinct areas of  
the business 
  rac e c our s e xtures attract attendance from both the general 
public and hospitality clients our relationships with these 
customers are managed on a local basis with increasing focus 
on relationship management procedures to enhance value 
and frequency of attendance
we maintain strong connections with bookmakers with 
whom we have both direct and indirect relationships they 
are a key corporate customer at race meetings providing 
hospitality sponsorship and in the case of the oncourse 
gaming can also be considered a supplier of services to 
our other customers we manage these relationships on 
both a local and central basis
   indirect relationships with bookmakers are core to our 
business through our distribution of media rights both in 
the uk and ireland via licence to bookmakers for use in lbos 
and on an international basis through atr these ‘rights’ are 
contracted for longterm periods typically ve years and are 
negotiated in advance
  the group receives income from the levy on bookmakers 
which is controlled by the levy board arena manages this 
relationship through its af liation with trade associations and 
through direct relationships with the of cers and members 
of the levy board
  the group is increasing its diversity of income streams 
in particular through the addition of complementary assets 
on racecourses hotels golf and leisure conference and 
events are the main areas and each has customers that 
are managed locally on each racecourse in some areas we 
utilise agencies and in the case of our two hotels we have 
considerable support from marriott and holiday inn under 
franchise agreements thus bene tting from their sales 
and marketing infrastructure
suppliers
arena has relationships with suppliers for goods and services 
that are utilised in the execution of our business model 
the key supplier relationships are managed across the group 
both locally and centrally whichever is considered appropriate 
in each instance whilst the group has signi cant internal 
resources some areas of expertise are outsourced to third 
parties for example in the case of real estate for expert 
planning advice or design 
procedures and policies exist for the contracting and 
management of these supplier relationships the group’s 
policy is to x payment terms when agreeing business 
transactions to ensure that suppliers are aware of such terms 
and abide by the agreed terms of payment the number of 
days’ purchases that were represented by yearend group 
trade creditors was 33 company 39
intellectual property
each racecourse has inherent value in its racing content and 
is able to realise this value through the sale of rights to third 
parties either directly or through intermediaries
the group’s racecourses own 268 racing xtures and have 
been able to successfully gain additional shortterm xtures 
enabling a total xture list in excess of 350 race meetings in 
a typical year these shortterm xtures are held on interests 
of between one and threeyear tenures 
the group has built up and continues to expand ‘knowhow’ 
in key areas with recognised experience in racing operations 
catering venue and facilities management construction 
project management and planning as well as having 
implemented procedures and supporting it systems that 
facilitate the successful delivery of its business model  
and strategy
breathe spa 
at the ling eld park 
marriott hotel offers a 
range of facilities and 
treatments
golf academy
a championship
standard golf course 
and academy complex 
offering practice 
facilities and coaching 14 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
key performance indicators
the group monitors a number of key performance indicators  
that are both nancial and operational these indicators  
are considered either to be the key drivers of the business  
or to represent the key metrics by which the performance  
of the business is measured
why these key performance indicators  
are important 
on this page and the facing page are 
shown the key performance indicators 
that are considered relevant in measuring 
the performance of the business
the operational drivers of these indicators  
and their impact on the business are 
considered on page 11 with the resulting 
revenue segmentation shown opposite 
the primary driver of performance is the 
number of xtures hosted and then the total 
attendance particularly the private and 
corporate hospitality element attendance 
is expressed in aggregate for the year 
and as an average per xture hospitality 
attendance is shown in aggregate and is 
important as the highest pro tcontributing 
customer segment
financial key performance indicators
revenue £m 
2010 640
2009 652
2008 648
2007 
2006 453
579
revenue has decreased between 2009 and 2010 
predominantly as a result of the reduced funding 
contributions from the levy which will decrease further into 
2011 increasing revenue streams come mainly from the 
ling eld park marriott hotel which opened in may 2010
profit before interest and tax £m 
2010 54
2009 49
2008 58
2007 
2006 56
57
pro t before interest and tax is shown as adjusted for separately 
disclosed items
  2010 – no adjustments
  2009 – gain on sale of asset
  2008 – gain on sale of asset
  2007 –   impairment losses gain on disposal  
of ood damaged assets 
  2006 – no adjustments
earnings per share p 
2010 102
2009 116
2008 112
2007 
2006 161
163
earnings per share decreased between 2009 and 2010 
despite increased pro ts before interest and tax owing to the 
additional interest expense incurred following the cessation of 
capitalising interest in relation to the ling eld park marriott 
hotel development upon its completion in may 2010 strategy
arena leisure plc 15 
annual report and accounts 2010
operational key performance indicators
total attendances
2010 634000
2009 639000
2008 629000
2007
2006 488000
557000
 to nearest thousand
total attendance has decreased slightly from 2009 to 2010 
with 18 fewer xtures staged in 2010 we are targeting 
growth in attendance for 2011 through our customerfocused 
product themed racedays and improved marketing strategy 
 
hospitality attendance
2010 45200
2009 38600
2008 53700
2007 
2006 48200
62700
hospitality attendance is an important pro t contributor to 
arena’s racecourses economic conditions have impacted this 
business signi cantly with some recovery in 2010 although 
we are some way off the peak year of 2007 we expect further 
moderate recovery in 2011
average attendance per fixture
2010 1800
2009 1727
2008 1733
2007 
2006 1382
1605
average attendance is a good indicator of underlying consumer 
trends it can be affected by the mix of race xtures in any 
particular year with additional unscheduled xtures typically 
generating lower attendances than scheduled xtures in 2010 
we were pleased with an aboveindustry average growth of 42 
and expect to further improve in 2011 through our product and 
marketing initiatives
number of fixtures held 
2010 352
2009 370
2008 363
2007 
2006 353
347
each of arena’s seven racecourses owns the rights  
to host certain race meetings into perpetuity in addition  
to these ‘owned’ meetings totalling 268 across the group 
further meetings are acquired on arrangements lasting from 
one to three years in 2011 we expect to stage 353 xtures 
having secured 85 additional shortterm xtures
analysis of revenues 
£m
levy 177
media rights lbo 116
admissionsrelated 98
catering 107
other raceday 89
nonraceday 53
total 640
the group has diverse sources of revenue of which 
approximately half is received from industry sources  
namely the levy and lbo media rights income the remainder 
re ects the consumer focus of the business from admission 
receipts catering incomes and other sources of racing and 
nonracing business over time we expect the share of 
nonracingrelated revenues to increase as we diversify  
our racecourse business from 2012 the proportion of  
media rights income will be impacted positively by the 
enhanced agreement with sis 16 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
principal risks
arena regularly reviews ongoing and potential risks which 
may impact upon the execution of strategy and operational 
performance with a consequential impact on value in so doing 
management and the board ensure that appropriate systems 
procedures and controls are in place to mitigate the occurrence  
and impact of such risks
risk type and impact mitigation
commercial and operational risk
arena’s business is exposed to weaknesses in consumer 
spend particularly in the private hospitality segment  
a reduction in the contribution from this segment has a 
consequent reduction in pro tability current trading levels 
are considered moderate and hence operational risk is less 
than in previous years
adverse economic conditions can cause a reduction in the 
levels of customer spend per head at racecourses and can 
impact the group’s nonracing business streams notably 
through conference events and hotel revenues
poor weather conditions can impact income both 
attendancerelated and in extreme cases the hosting 
of xtures resulting in a loss of pro tability 
 
management has taken mitigating actions to protect arena 
from current and potential operational risks
  the operating cost base has been aligned with reduced 
customer revenue and the operating synergies arising  
from bringing our catering operation inhouse have  
protected pro ts 
  the group has appointed suitably experienced and  
quali ed senior management to oversee and direct the 
operation and standards of performance across all of 
arena’s racecourses
  appropriate systems and structures are in place to ensure 
proper training and supervision of staff and management 
information systems monitor performance on a regular 
basis against predetermined targets
  arena has made a signi cant investment in information 
technology covering key business areas and in particular 
reservations ticketing and points of sale and customer 
relationship management these systems are substantially 
embedded assets with a consequent improvement in the 
control environment of the group and
  the group’s three allweather tracks provide signi cant 
protection against the loss of xtures due to bad weather  
in extreme weather conditions xtures can be lost although 
it is often the case that additional xtures can be staged at 
short notice thereby mitigating the potential loss 
industry funding risk
a signi cant proportion of the group‘s annual income  
is derived from the statutory levy on bookmakers’ pro ts  
from uk horseracing the scheme has suffered signi cant 
reductions in yield with a consequent reduction in funding 
levels further reductions could be possible if a higher 
proportion of betting on uk racing moves to betting 
exchanges or offshore with a reduced or no capture of 
revenue by the levy there is a risk that a replacement  
for the levy or further reductions in the amount generated 
may have a detrimental impact on income
a signi cant proportion of the group’s annual income is 
derived from its contract for the supply of racing content to 
lbos these contracts are linked to the numbers of races  
that are staged
as mitigation to these risks
  2011 funding levels have been set at a relative  
minimum level and the downside risk is considered low 
the 201112 scheme is forecast at a level that is above the 
current budgeted level the government has expressed its 
intention to reform the levy to avoid future determinations 
and provide a longterm sustainable mechanism there  
is a high level of involvement of arena management in  
the key industry bodies and
  arena enters into longterm contracts for the provision  
of racing content and has entered into an early agreement 
for the period from 2012 to 2016 thereby securing this 
income for the medium term arena has historically 
been able to secure over 350 xtures a year and has 
a reasonable expectation of continuing at this level strategy
arena leisure plc 17 
annual report and accounts 2010
risk type and impact mitigation
development risk
arena has a strategy for the creation of value through 
maximising the utilisation of real estate and land assets 
central to this strategy are a number of planned and active 
development projects 
the new marriott hotel and leisure facility at ling eld park 
is now complete and no other ongoing major projects are 
currently in their construction phase 
the future major developments are 
  a new hotel extension and casino subject to securing  
a licence at wolverhampton racecourse 
  a new hotel and residential development at  
doncaster racecourse
  improved racecourse facilities including a new entrance 
building at royal windsor racecourse and
  a planning application for a residential development  
and the redevelopment of folkestone racecourse 
 
in order to mitigate the risks in its development programme 
arena has or will 
  undertake detailed feasibility studies in respect of  
the new developments using highly quali ed and 
experienced consultants to assess the business potential 
in each location
  choose to work with internationally recognised hotel  
brands with signi cant experience and market presence 
based upon established management contract and 
franchise models
  employ suitably experienced and quali ed project managers 
for each construction project who are dedicated to 
delivering the development from planning through  
to completion and
  enter into xedprice contracts with suitably experienced 
and established building contractors 
strategic risk
arena manages a number of strategic risks related to  
the delivery of value through exploiting its multiple sources  
of value creation
  the current credit markets have reduced the availability and 
increased the cost of additional debt funding which has a 
potential impact on the group’s ability to source acceptable 
funding for future development projects and
  potential failure to achieve acceptable planning consents 
for the surplus land holdings of which the most signi cant 
is that at folkestone racecourse is mitigated by appropriate 
management actions  
 
to mitigate this risk arena has taken the following actions
  maintaining a close relationship with our current lender 
as well as building and maintaining relationships with other 
potential lenders in addition management and the board 
continue to consider other alternative sources of 
investment capital and
  detailed planning strategies have been developed in 
conjunction with a suitably quali ed property consultant 
regular meetings are held with local council executives 
and planning departments and representations have been 
made through the local development framework process
health and safety risk
arena must ensure it satis es all health and safety standards 
and complies with disability discrimination act legislation
 
arena takes the following actions to ensure the health and 
safety of its employees and customers 
  the group has employed suitably quali ed and experienced 
health and safety managers to ensure that the group’s 
industryleading health and safety policies are 
communicated and complied with 
  each racecourse employs an onsite food safety specialist 
whose training is overseen by the group’s health and safety 
manager these onsite employees are in turn responsible 
for ensuring all racecourse catering staff receive food 
hygiene training
  from a racing perspective arena’s health and safety 
manager is responsible for communicating controls and 
procedures across the group she is a member of the 
racecourse association’s safety advisory group and 
ensures that industry best practice is implemented across 
all seven racecourses and 
  arena’s health and safety manager oversees the group’s 
allareas access programme which has been successful in 
making its venues accessible to visitors with mobility sight 
and hearing dif culties particularly at wolverhampton 
worcester and southwell which remain disability symbol 
holders and at ling eld park where accessibility was 
integral to the recent redevelopment work   18 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
18 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
events
in in in 201 01 01 01 1 1 0 0 0 0 th t t t e e numb b b ber e er r r o of them med ed ed e e r rac ac a a e 
me me me me meet et et et ti in n n i i g gs gs s gs g s sta tage ged d d d w wa wa w s
race meetings with themed 
entertainment from music concerts 
to ladies days to family fun days 
are proving increasingly popular
 35
these themed race meetings were attended by over
150 000
 people performance
arena leisure plc 19 
annual report and accounts 2010
overview
some recovery in market conditions and a continued focus 
on the customer offering and marketing of lead promotions 
resulted in improvements in attendances average attendance 
across all seven racecourses increased by 42 to 1800 
2009 1727 and total hospitality attendance increased 
by 171 to 45200 2009 38600 total attendance was 
634000 which is slightly less than the 639000 in 2009 as a 
result of fewer xtures being held a total of 352 xtures were 
staged in 2010 which was 18 less than in 2009 when the 
closure of great leighs racecourse resulted in additional 
 xtures being transferred to arena courses at short notice 
arena has again staged over onequarter of all uk racing 
 xtures 2010 25 2009 26
of arena’s scheduled xtures 18 were abandoned during 
the year 2009 eight 2008 seven which represents an 
unusually high number and was a result of the severe weather 
conditions during both the early part of the year and the last 
 ve weeks of 2010 during which time respectively 11 and 
seven race meetings were lost due to the capacity of our 
allweather tracks and the dedication of our staff we are able 
to stage extra xtures at short notice and in 2010 14 extra 
 xtures were hosted 2009 four of which six were in 
december attendances throughout december at both the 
extra and the scheduled xtures were 14000 less than 
in 2009 and the resulting adverse impact on pro t was 
approximately £03m
as has already been described the levy yield suffered 
a signi cant reduction in the year resulting in cuts to the 
distributions to racecourses the overall contribution 
to arena’s racecourses reduced by £38m to £177m 
2009 £215m which resulted in a £03m negative impact 
on pro tability 2009 £nil income from lborelated media 
rights of £116m remained at the same level as the prior 
year 2009 £116m whilst the lbo contract bene ts from 
an in ationary adjustment the number of xtures and hence 
races staged were less than in 2009 resulting in no 
net increase
in may the ling eld park marriott hotel and country club 
opened for business the hotel operation is integrated with 
the racecourse with a longterm business plan that is based 
on mixed leisure corporate and eventsbased incomes 
initial trading through the summer months was in line with 
our expectations with good golf and racingrelated business 
the last quarter proved more challenging due principally to 
market conditions preopening costs of the hotel operation 
were £05m 2009 02m as expected
arena’s racecourse operation delivered an operating pro t of 
£67m in the year 2009 £68m after the impact of the hotel 
preopening costs excluding these costs the racecourse 
contribution has increased by 38 to £72m 2009 £70m 
within this the impact of reduced levy funding and the 
december weatheraffected trading was a cumulative 
negative £06m admissionsrelated incomes royalties from 
international media rights and the rst trading period of the 
new hotel together produced a net increase in pro t of £08m
racecourses
racecourse performance has continued to show resilience to 
economic conditions with good increases in attendance levels 
maintained public spend per head and hospitality volumes 
increasing albeit from what was a relatively low base
arena’s largest event of the year the ladbrokes st leger 
festival at doncaster racecourse was again successful 
the total crowd over the four days in september was 60000 
2009 53000 and ladbrokes st leger day itself attracted 
30000 2009 27000 hospitality attendance over the four 
days was 6400 2009 5500 up by 164 in line with trends 
in the rest of the business but some way short of the 2008 
level of 10000 overall attendance at doncaster has been 
encouraging and showing a trend of growth which indicates 
that the racecourse is becoming reestablished after its 
closure for redevelopment prior to august 2007 the course 
staged 29 xtures in 2010 2009 31 and continued the 
programme of themed events with racing and music nights in 
may and august featuring ‘ factor’ nalists and ‘scouting for 
girls’ both of which attracted good crowds and a nonracing 
halloween event which started a new concept that we will 
build on in 2011 the cold weather at the beginning and end 
of the year caused the abandonment of four race meetings 
2009 none the weather also had an impact on the last 
quarter conference and events business although the year 
saw an improvement in this business stream as we gain 
greater utilisation from the extensive conference and  
meeting facilities
review of operations
during 2010 arena has been able to grow its 
operating business open a new hotel and leisure 
development further establish its inhouse catering 
operation and seen good progress from atr 
particularly in international media distribution 20 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
royal windsor racecourse recorded good public attendances 
at the popular summerseason monday nights which form the 
mainstay of the course’s 26 xture programme 2009 27 
a number of these nights are themed and have allowed us to 
target our marketing successfully as well as to broaden the 
appeal of each event the world cup in june and july would 
typically reduce attendances at these evening xtures but we 
were able to mitigate most of any shortfall keeping it below 
10 on days with matches in the past corporate hospitality 
levels at royal windsor were approximately double current 
levels with large reductions in levels of entertaining by 
 nancial institutions having a major impact since 2008 
the opening of the marriott hotel at ling eld park racecourse 
is a major transformation for this venue the operation across 
hotel leisure and racecourse facilities is fully integrated 
realising bene ts from operational synergies and revenue 
generation a franchise agreement with marriott international 
provides for brand standards and sales marketing reservations 
and revenue management capabilities refurbishment work on 
the racecourse’s function rooms now allow these to be sold as 
an integral part of conference event and residential offerings 
that are combined with the hotel facilities ling eld park is now 
the uk’s rst integrated ‘racing country club’ offering racing 
golf spa and leisure facilities conferences meetings and 
events in a location that is both picturesque and close to 
london gatwick and major road and rail links initial trading 
patterns have seen good business from leisurerelated stays 
with guests taking advantage of the golf course facilities or 
choosing to combine weekend racing with an overnight hotel 
stay residential conferences and meetings form a longterm 
core business segment for ling eld park with an expectation 
that this will build over time as we are able to establish and 
gain reputation
the group’s three racecourses with allweather tracks 
continue to provide the majority of arena’s xtures and in 2010 
wolverhampton southwell and ling eld park racecourses 
staged 96 76 and 90 xtures respectively 2009 98 78 and 
98 fixture levels were lower than in 2009 when the closure 
of great leighs racecourse in january of that year resulted in 
the transfer of its xtures with arena’s courses picking up 38 
in 2010 many of these equivalent xtures were included in 
the bha xture scheduling and spread over more courses 
the allweather courses are also able to stage xtures at short 
notice and often in periods of bad weather when racing is lost 
at turf tracks additional xtures will be raced at allweather 
courses in 2010 arena staged 14 of these additional 
 xtures 2009 four at many of the allweather meetings the 
attendance levels are comparatively low however these are 
important xtures in the generation of racing content for media 
distribution to bookmakers in turn they are therefore important 
for the generation of levy through betting turnover and produce 
a signi cant net positive contribution to levy funds 
worcester racecourse staged 17 xtures in the year 
2009 16 and was able to race a full xture list without 
disruption from the bad weather and ooding that has 
hampered past years attendances were close to 40000 
people over the year with major event days proving 
successful in attracting up to 4000 people to what is a 
relatively small course similarly folkestone racecourse is 
a relatively small operation and raced 18 times during 2010 
2009 22 unfortunately this course was badly impacted by 
weather conditions and abandoned its rst three meetings 
of the year and its last meeting in november excellent efforts 
in the local market based on targeted sales initiatives have 
seen good improvements in hospitality at folkestone and 
a commensurate increase in race sponsorship but these 
successes were not able to make up for the impact of the four 
lost xtures the longterm future of folkestone racecourse is 
linked to the redevelopment of the site as part of our application 
for a mixeduse leisure and residential development 
the group’s catering operations were brought inhouse in 
early 2007 and since that time have achieved recognised 
improvements in service delivery and product quality as well 
as pro tability we have highlighted before the importance of 
the catering operation in helping to sustain operating margins 
and drive promotional sales and this continued through 2010 
as the catering business matures we have been able to apply 
best practice across our racecourses and in 2010 have made 
good progress in standardising concepts of restaurant and 
retail offering where appropriate the catering operations 
form an integral part of each racecourse operation and 
centrally we are able to manage purchasing contracts 
operational procedures and performance through arena’s 
catering operations director the catering operation is able 
to deliver a diverse product offering from smaller raceday 
food and drink retail to the larger event days of over 30000 
people at the ladbrokes st leger and the highend catering 
demanded at royal windsor in the summer season 
after the year end in february 2011 arena announced that  
it had been successful in tendering to locog and had been 
awarded the contract to provide catering services at both the 
eton dorney and the greenwich park venues as part of the 
olympic and paralympic games in 2012 the board currently 
estimates that the net pro t contribution from the contract 
in 2012 will be in the range of £05m to £10m
review of operations continued at the races
arena’s 4585 af liate generates  
income from its website tv channel  
and its international media distribution  
joint venture gbi racing
atr is currently able to distribute racing content through 
its gbi racing joint venture to a total of 
 25 countries
at the races
arena’s 4585 af liate company atr is a media distribution 
business with income streams generated from a website 
a television channel and through distributing content 
internationally the other main stakeholder is bskyb with 
ascot and certain other racecourses including those owned 
by northern racing having a noncontrolling interest
atr is the uk and ireland’s most watched dedicated 
horseracing channel and is available in 14 million homes 
the channel can reach up to 20 million individuals each 
month with a regular daily audience of over 400000 and 
a peak of 560000 that was recorded in november 2010 
during the breeders’ cup coverage the demographic pro le 
of audience is attractive to both advertisers and sponsors 
advertising revenues from television have again performed 
well in 2010 thanks to the strong fundamentals behind 
atr’s audience pro le 
the website ‘attheracescom’ is the premier racing and 
betting website in the uk and ireland during 2010 it has 
achieved signi cant uplifts in its monthly usage reaching a 
peak of 975000 unique users in october 2009 650000 
users are attracted to the wealth of information on the site 
including racecards tipping and video content the expansion 
of the business segment has seen atr develop ‘bet  watch’ 
technology that allows race streams to be viewed live on 
bookmaker websites as well as a live channel available via 
annual subscription through 3g technology atr is available 
across all major mobile phone platforms in the uk and ireland
in march 2010 atr commenced its joint venture with 
racecourse media group for the international distribution 
of all uk and irish racing this joint venture gbi racing 
pools the respective rights of the two entities and provides 
a uni ed broadcast service for british and irish racing in 
important parimutuel markets such as italy france south 
africa turkey and australia as well as further developing 
opportunities in newer markets such as singapore malaysia 
and hong kong in 2010 the joint venture delivered better 
than expected cost savings of £06m for atr and increased 
revenues thereby contributing to the overall excellent result 
of atr in the year
in the year to 31 december 2010 atr generated an 
operating pro t of £25m 2009 £14m from revenue 
of £192m 2009 £161m and a gross pro t of £118m 
2009 £102m operating pro t was recorded after 
payments to racecourses of £42m 2009 £31m 
arena’s share of posttax pro t was £14m 2009 £05m
performance
arena leisure plc 21 
annual report and accounts 2010
in 2010 arena’s shareholding in atr delivered a pro t 
contribution of
 £1  3 5m 22 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
managing responsibly
the directors recognise the importance of monitoring 
arena’s performance relating to environment employee 
and social and community issues and have policies and 
procedures to enable them to do so
environmental matters
the group operates a health safety and environmental 
policy that sets out the responsibilities of the directors 
management and employees in relation to all health and 
safety and environmental matters as well as the procedures to 
be followed the group health and safety manager oversees 
the implementation of the policy specially trained employees 
have been given responsibility for communicating speci c 
areas of the policy across the group 
recycling processes are in place at all seven racecourse venues 
that allow for the separation and recycling of cardboard and 
paper glass ink cartridges uorescent tubes and waste oil 
we handle and recycle 120 tonnes of glass waste per annum 
and are now introducing plastic recycling food and stable 
waste recycling are being targeted as areas for improvement 
and we are trialling the production of biodiesel from used 
cooking oil for each recycling process we have introduced 
waste monitor responsibilities to nominated operational 
staff members
to minimise the risk of environmental damage from major 
developments arena employs environmental consultants 
and service consultants to carry out assessments in respect 
of each project and to report to the respective local planning 
authorities the environment agency ‘ea’ is also consulted 
at all stages of the proposals measures will be agreed 
with the contractors to comply with local authority and 
ea requirements the designs of all developments also 
include energy ef ciency measures
employee matters
the recruitment and retention of the highest calibre 
employees is of the utmost importance policies and 
procedures including details on the employee appraisal 
process are provided to all employees 
the group is committed to a policy of recruitment and 
promotion on the basis of aptitude and ability without 
discrimination of any kind all employees and potential 
employees will be regarded equally and given equal 
opportunities regardless of their age gender race colour 
sexual orientation religion or belief ethnic origin nationality 
marital status or disability management actively pursue both 
the employment of disabled persons whenever a suitable 
vacancy arises and the continued employment and retraining 
of employees who become disabled whilst employed by the 
group particular attention is given to the training career 
development and promotion of disabled employees with 
a view to encouraging them to play an active role in the 
development of arena 
arena also runs an apprenticeship programme offering training 
to 1618 year olds across a range of disciplines two of our 
racecourses wolverhampton and southwell continue to hold 
the investors in people accreditation standard 
employee communications are a high priority and staff 
members are kept informed through regular management 
meetings at a national regional and local level with staff 
brie ngs and notices as appropriate each year employees 
have the opportunity to meet with their line manager to 
discuss formally their performance and communicate their 
views however more frequent discussions are encouraged
further information on staff training and remuneration is 
provided in the resources section on page 13
social and community issues
arena recognises that gambling is closely associated with 
horseracing and is a popular raceday activity the group has 
taken steps to encourage responsible gambling and to meet 
the objectives of the gambling act 2005 which are
  preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder  
being associated with crime or disorder or being used to 
support crime
  ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way 
and
  protecting children and other vulnerable persons from  
being harmed or exploited by gambling
in this respect all of arena’s racecourses fully support all 
oncourse bookmakers and betting operators in the policies 
that they have arena is supportive of gamcare’s work in 
association with the administration of gambling on tracks 
ltd in producing a standard policy on behalf of oncourse 
bookmakers arena ensures that information regarding 
assistance for problem gambling is available at its 
racecourses and that all racecourse staff and oncourse 
bookmakers are able to provide this information to racegoers 
upon request
arena recognises that the consumption of alcohol is also 
associated with a day at the races and has taken steps to 
encourage responsible drinking through the implementation 
of a groupwide zerotolerance policy this policy requires all 
staff who serve alcohol to receive appropriate training verify 
photo identi cation if age is in doubt and turn away customers 
who are below the legal drinking age or who appear to have 
had too much to drink catering bar staff area managers and 
supervisors work in conjunction with the racecourse stewards 
to monitor the crowds for underage drinkers arena leisure plc 23 
annual report and accounts 2010
performance
arena has continued to generate good operating cash ows 
that have allowed it to complete elements of its investment 
programme and to reduce net borrowings pro t before 
interest and tax has shown a good increase and arena was 
able to pay a dividend to shareholders in the year
results overview
revenue in the year to 31 december 2010 decreased by 
19 to £640m 2010 £652m pro t before interest and 
tax increased by 17 to £54m 2009 £53m in 2009 the 
disposal of certain noncore assets resulted in a gain of 
£04m and before this gain pro t before interest and tax 
increased by 104 to £54m from £49m pro t before and 
after tax decreased by 121 to £36m 2009 £41m 
earnings per share were 102p 2009 116p
the £12m decrease in revenue was mainly driven by the 
shortfalls in levy funding which were £38m less at £177m 
for the year 2009 £215m this shortfall has predominantly 
impacted prize money and is also a result of fewer xtures in 
the year the income from lbo media rights has remained 
constant at £116m 2009 £116m despite fewer xtures 
in the year as a result of an in ationary uplift on this contract 
and slightly better numbers of races per xture the new hotel 
and leisure development at ling eld park accounted for 
an additional £15m of revenue in the year all other net 
revenues have seen a slight net increase over 2009
pro t from racecourse operations before the gain on disposal 
of assets in 2009 was £67m 2009 £68m the impact of 
the preopening costs of the hotel development at ling eld 
park was £05m in the year 2009 £02m and before these 
costs the underlying racecourse pro t contribution has 
increased by £02m to £72m 2009 £70m the negative 
impact of levy funding cuts £03m and the impact of the 
freezing weather on trading in the last ve weeks of 2010 
£03m have collectively reduced pro ts by £06m the total 
number of hospitality customers increased by 171 to 45200 
2009 38600 and whilst total attendance was slightly down 
on 2009 at 634000 2009 639000 the average attendance 
increased by 42 to 1800 2009 1727 
pro t before interest and tax increased by £01m to £54m 
from the £53m in 2009 that included the £04m gain on the 
disposal pro t before interest and tax for the year adjusting 
for these items increased by £05m 2010 £54m 2009 
£49m pro t before tax decreased by £05m to £36m 
2009 £41m largely as a result of the impact of nance 
expenses in 2010 due to the interest on the nancing of 
the ling eld park development which was capitalised 
in the period prior to the hotel becoming fully operational 
in may 2010 during may to december in 2009 a total of 
£04m of interest relating to the hotel development was 
capitalised 2010 £nil a noncash gain of £01m 2009 
£nil was recognised in 2010 relating to the movement in 
the valuation of interest rate derivatives
central costs
central costs were £27m 2009 £24m and include a 
sharebased payment expense in respect of the amortisation 
of share options and ltip awards of £03m 2009 £nil 
capital expenditure
during the year £91m was invested in capital assets 2009 
£192m of this £76m 2009 £176m was incurred on the 
ling eld park marriott hotel and leisure scheme bringing 
the total completed spend to £300m the remaining £15m 
included £04m related to the commencement of a £10m 
project at royal windsor racecourse that will improve 
racecourse facilities and provide a new entrance building 
with of ce and retail space capital additions include 
£08m 2009 £07m of interest costs related to development 
projects during the planning and construction phases 
having completed the ling eld park marriott hotel project 
and pending the commencement of construction on the other 
major development schemes arena will utilise operating cash 
 ows in 2011 to substantially reduce net borrowings
treasury report
in february 2010 arena signed new banking facilities with its 
relationship bank lloyds banking group ‘lbg’ which were 
put in place and partially drawn in march 2010 replacing all 
existing facilities the new facilities are committed until 
31 december 2013 and are composed of a term loan of 
£350m that will amortise evenly over the period to its 
maturity on 31 october 2013 and a £200m revolving credit 
facility that is committed until 31 december 2013 of the term 
loan £50m was repaid on 31 july 2010 and a further £50m 
repaid after the year end on 31 january 2011 the interest 
tony harris
finance director
net loans and borrowings £m 
2010 398
2009 463
2008 442
2007 
2006 216
362
 loans and borrowings net of cash
a strong capital base
during the year arena has 
reduced net borrowings whilst 
funding its capital investment 
programme
financial review 24 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
margin on the facilities is variable between 20 and 325 
over libor dependent on the leverage of the group at the 
beginning of each quarter as part of this restructuring arena 
was able to release assets previously secured to bank loans 
that are now provided as security to sis in respect of the 
second and third advanced media rights payments of 
£125m and £70m received on 22 july 2010 and due on 
22 july 2011 respectively this security remains until the 
commencement of the new media rights agreement with sis 
on 1 january 2012 the advanced payments are included 
within deferred income with the £70m also shown as a 
receivable at 31 december 2010 
hedging of interest rate risk is considered on a regular 
basis to ensure that it is appropriate for the level of debt 
within the group a previously held interest rate cap and 
collar arrangement in respect of £120m of debt which 
was effective from 1 october 2007 to 30 september 2012 
has now been replaced with a £150m amortising xed 
swap at 477 this new instrument was effective from 
1 april 2010 and reduces to £100m from 1 april 2011 
and then to £50m from 1 april 2012 until its maturity 
on 31 december 2013 effective from 2 october 2008 to 
31 december 2012 a further £100m of interest rate hedging 
remained in place and unchanged with a 7525 mix of xed 
and capped contracts for which the effective libor rate is 
a maximum of 527
bank loans are secured by a xed and oating charge on the 
assets and undertakings of arena companies and a rst legal 
charge on all the freehold properties the security is subject 
to deeds of priority and permitted charges in favour of the 
horserace betting levy board ‘hblb’ in respect of security 
for interestfree loans provided to the group which had 
a balance outstanding of £32m at 31 december 2010 
2009 £48m
under ias 39 ‘financial instruments recognition and 
measurement’ the group is required to value the interest 
rate swap contract at its fair value with the gain or loss 
being shown in the statement of comprehensive income as 
an ‘other nance gain or loss’ the valuation at 31 december 
2010 has resulted in a liability of £13m 2009 £15m being 
recorded on the balance sheet and a gain of £01m 2009 
£nil to the statement of comprehensive income the contract 
will be revalued at each subsequent reporting date and the 
resulting gain or loss arising from the valuation will be taken 
to the statement of comprehensive income
arena continues to utilise interestfree loans made available 
by the hblb in respect of speci ed capital projects under ias 
39 interestfree loans are valued on a discounted cash ow 
basis on initial recognition with the gain being taken to the 
statement of comprehensive income in subsequent years 
the loan is accreted back up to its book value with the 
corresponding charge being taken to the statement of 
comprehensive income as a consequence the group 
has made a charge of £03m 2009 £04m re ecting 
the notional interest charge on outstanding hblb loans 
received in previous periods this accounting for the interest
free loans under ias 39 has no ‘cash’ consequences
going concern
arena’s business activities together with the factors likely 
to affect its future development performance and position are 
set out in the business review on pages 1 to 22 the nancial 
position of the group its cash ows liquidity position and 
borrowing facilities are described in the financial review 
on pages 23 to 24 in addition note 26 to the nancial 
statements includes the group’s objectives policies 
and processes for managing its capital its nancial risk 
management objectives details of its nancial instruments 
and hedging activities and its exposures to credit risk and 
liquidity risk 
although the current economic conditions create uncertainty 
particularly over funding levels from the levy on bookmakers 
the group’s forecasts and projections taking account of 
reasonably possible changes in trading performance together 
with mitigating actions that are within management’s control 
show that the group is expected to be able to operate within 
the level and covenant conditions of its new debt facilities 
the directors have a reasonable expectation that the 
company and group have adequate resources to continue in 
operational existence for the foreseeable future accordingly 
they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting 
in preparing the annual nancial statements
taxation
there is no current year tax charge due to arena’s continued 
use of hblb capital credits in respect of racecourse capital 
projects and the availability of brought forward tax losses 
at 31 december 2010 corporation tax losses representing 
trade and nontrade losses of £644m 2009 £640m were 
available for utilisation in future years subject to agreement 
with hm revenue  customs
we have recognised a deferred tax liability on temporary 
differences of £133m 2009 £127m in addition we have 
also recognised a deferred tax asset for losses of £133m 
2009 £127m 
dividends
the board is pleased to announce that it is proposing a nal 
dividend for 2010 of 038p per share totalling £1384000 
2009 038p per ordinary share totalling £1384000 in line 
with arena’s stated policy no interim dividend was paid during 
the year 2009 none
tony harris
finance director 
7 march 2011
capital expenditure £m 
2010 91
2009 192
2008 150
2007 
2006 176
292
net cash flows from operating activities £m 
2010 185
2009 197
2008 86
2007 
2006 57
83
financial review board of directors and company secretary
david is an experienced 
chairman with a track 
record of growth pro table 
performance and extensive 
boardlevel experience 
in general management 
consulting operations and 
sales and marketing in 2009 
david completed a successful 
 veyear term as chairman of 
the racecourse association 
the trade association for 60 uk 
racecourses he was appointed 
to the role of chairman of arena 
in may 2010 david is currently 
chairman of clinical solutions 
international ltd shl group 
ltd and innovation group plc 
and is a nonexecutive director 
of interserve plc he is also a 
liveryman of the worshipful 
company of information 
technologists
mark was appointed chief 
executive in october 2005  
he was formerly finance director 
and then nally chief executive 
at wembley plc the trackbased 
gaming leisure venue operator 
mark trained as a chartered 
accountant with ernst  young 
mark is vice chairman of 
the racecourse association 
the trade body of the uk  
racecourse industry
tony was appointed finance 
director of arena in may 2008 
he was formerly chief financial 
of cer of the unite group 
plc and prior to that vice 
president finance europe  
africa and nordic regions at 
hilton international where he 
was responsible for 230 hotels 
operating across 35 countries 
tony quali ed as a chartered 
accountant with arthur andersen 
and then spent 13 years working 
in the hotel industry rst with 
intercontinental hotels  
group and then with  
hilton international
ian has held the position of 
racing director since he joined 
arena in 2001 he has extensive 
racing experience including 
manager and clerk of the 
course at salisbury wincanton 
and aintree a respected gure 
throughout racing ian sits on 
various industry advisory groups 
and was previously a director of 
the british horseracing authority 
which took over responsibility for 
regulation and governance of uk 
horseracing in 2007
andrew has extensive experience 
and interests in the racing 
industry he was a director of 
the british horseracing board 
from 1997 to 2000 has been 
a member of the jockey club 
since 1982 and for four years 
was the jockey club steward 
responsible for all 59 at the time 
racecourses an owner rider and 
breeder of racehorses he was a 
director of united racecourses 
from 1995 to 1999 and a 
director of ram racing leisure 
ltd from 1996 to 1999 andrew 
is a nonexecutive director of 
three other companies and 
a trustee or governor of ve 
charities andrew joined arena 
in september 1999
andrew is chief executive of cer 
and formerly finance director 
of the restaurant group plc 
‘trg’ a listed company 
operating approximately 400 
restaurants and pub restaurants 
primarily in leisure locations and 
airports in the united kingdom 
prior to joining trg andrew held 
a number of senior positions 
in the leisure and hospitality 
sector including senior vice 
president of intercontinental 
hotels group and group finance 
director of hanover international 
plc prior to that he spent six 
years with kleinwort benson’s 
corporate finance department 
andrew trained as a chartered 
accountant with kpmg
bob is a fellow of the institute 
of chartered management 
accountants with 13 years’ 
experience working within the 
racing industry bob joined 
arena in 1999 initially as group 
financial controller following the 
acquisition of wolverhampton 
and southwell racecourses 
and has held the roles of chief 
financial of cer and company 
secretary since may 2001 prior 
to working within the racing 
industry bob held a variety of 
senior roles in the textile and 
distribution industries
david thorpe
chairman
mark elliott
chief executive
tony harris
executive director
ian renton
executive director
andrew parker bowles obe
nonexecutive director
andrew page
nonexecutive director
bob mercer
company secretary
governance
arena leisure plc 25 
annual report and accounts 2010 corporate governance
arena has maintained its commitment to high standards of 
corporate governance during the year the principles and 
provisions of the combined code have been considered by 
the board the board con rms that throughout the year ended 
31 december 2010 the group has complied with the main 
and supporting principles as set out in the combined code 
issued by the financial reporting council in june 2008 
except for code provision a72 in that nonexecutives have 
not been appointed for speci ed periods and code provision 
a61 in that the board has not undertaken a formal annual 
evaluation of its performance and that of its committees 
and individual directors this latter point is discussed further 
below the board will report in the 2011 annual report on its 
compliance with the corporate governance code issued by 
the financial reporting council in june 2010
the board is accountable to the company’s shareholders for 
good governance and the statement set out below describes 
how the principles identi ed in the combined code appended 
to the listing rules are applied by the group
directors
the company is controlled through its board of directors 
the directors who held of ce during the year to 31 december 
2010 were as follows
david thorpe nonexecutive chairman 
appointed 19 may 2010
raymond mould nonexecutive chairman 
resigned 19 may 2010
mark elliott chief executive of cer
ian renton executive director
tony harris executive director
andrew parker bowles obe nonexecutive director
andrew page nonexecutive director
biographies of the board members appear on page 25 of this 
report these indicate the high levels and range of business 
experience which are essential to manage effectively a 
business of the size and complexity of arena 
in accordance with the articles of association ‘the articles’ 
david thorpe having been appointed during the year will 
retire and mark elliott will retire by rotation at this year’s 
annual general meeting and being eligible offer themselves 
for reelection
the directors are responsible for managing the business of 
the company the articles contain certain provisions relating 
to the powers of the directors including the power to appoint 
directors until they are reappointed by shareholders at the 
next annual general meeting the articles do not give the 
directors the power to remove another director any alteration 
by the directors to the company’s share capital is governed by 
the articles although the company’s powers to issue and buy 
back its shares require shareholder approval
amendments to the articles may be made by special resolution 
of the shareholders
the board meets at least six times each year and has  
a schedule of matters reserved to it for decision  
the requirement for board approval on these matters is 
communicated widely throughout the senior management  
of arena this includes matters such as determining the 
strategy of the group approval of nancial reporting and 
controls oversight of the group’s internal controls material 
capital commitments commencing or settling major litigation 
business acquisitions and disposals board membership and 
appointments approval of remuneration of directors and 
certain senior management corporate governance matters 
approval of group policies and risk management strategies 
amendments to the structure and nancing arrangements of 
the group and appointments to subsidiary company boards
the company secretary is responsible for ensuring board 
procedures are followed including the formal minuting of any 
unresolved concerns that directors may have in connection 
with the operation of the company during the year there 
were no such unresolved issues
the board has delegated authority to the committees of 
the board on speci c matters details of the nomination 
and audit committees are given within this statement and 
details of the remuneration committee are given in the 
remuneration report on pages 31 to 36 
full details of directors’ remuneration and a statement  
of the company’s remuneration policy are set out in the 
remuneration report executive directors abstain from any 
discussion or voting at full board meetings on remuneration 
committee recommendations where the recommendations 
have a direct bearing on their own remuneration package  
the details of each executive director’s individual package 
are xed by the committee in line with the policy adopted 
by the full board
the differing roles of chairman and chief executive are 
acknowledged and de ned in separate statements approved 
by the board the key functions of the chairman are to 
conduct board meetings and meetings of shareholders and to 
ensure that all directors are properly briefed in order to take  
a full and constructive part in board discussions the chief 
executive is required to develop and lead business strategies 
and processes to enable the group’s business to meet the 
requirements of its shareholders
26 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 details of the chairman’s other signi cant commitments are 
given in his biography on page 25 the board is satis ed that 
these do not interfere with the performance of his duties as 
chairman of the company
all of the nonexecutive directors are considered by the 
board to be independent of management and free of any 
relationship which could materially interfere with the exercise 
of their independent judgement the senior nonexecutive 
director is andrew page and any concerns relating to the 
executive management of the company or the performance 
of the other nonexecutive directors can be raised with him 
the service agreements of the nonexecutive directors are 
available for inspection at the company’s registered of ce 
and will be available at the annual general meeting 
any director appointed during the year is required under 
the provisions of the articles to retire and seek election 
by shareholders at the next annual general meeting the 
articles also require that onethird of the directors retire by 
rotation each year and seek reelection at the annual general 
meeting the directors required to retire will be those in of ce 
longest since their previous reelection and this will usually 
mean that each director retires at least every three years 
although there is no absolute requirement to this effect 
in order to comply with the combined code but avoid the 
expense of amending the articles to deal with this single 
point the board has resolved that each director will retire 
at least every three years even if this is not strictly required 
by application of the provisions of the articles
there is an agreed procedure for directors to take 
independent professional advice if necessary and at  
the company’s expense this is in addition to the access 
which every director has to the company secretary  
no such advice was sought during the year the company  
has appropriate insurance cover in respect of legal actions 
against its directors and the level of cover is  
regularly reviewed 
nomination committee
the members of the nomination committee are david thorpe 
chairman appointed 19 may 2010 andrew parker bowles 
and andrew page the committee meets as required but not 
less than once a year its responsibilities include reviewing 
the board structure size and composition nominating 
candidates to the board to ll board vacancies when they 
arise and recommending directors who are retiring by rotation 
to be put forward for reelection the committee also ensures 
that all board appointees undergo training as appropriate
audit committee
the audit committee operates under written terms  
of reference to assist the board in the discharge of its  
duties with regard to the group’s accounts the review of 
internal controls and risk management systems and the 
external audit
the audit committee is scheduled to meet at least three 
times a year it is comprised of andrew page chairman 
andrew parker bowles and david thorpe appointed 19 may 
2010 andrew page is a chartered accountant with extensive 
experience in senior nancial positions in listed companies in 
the leisure and hospitality sector
senior representatives of the group’s external auditors and 
appropriate members of senior management are normally 
invited to attend the meetings the chairman of the 
committee also meets with the external auditors without 
management present
the committee has met its responsibilities by
 monitoring the integrity of the nancial statements  
of the company and the formal announcements relating  
to the company’s nancial performance and reviewing  
the signi cant nancial reporting judgements  
contained therein
 reviewing the group’s internal nancial controls and the 
group’s internal control and risk management systems 
see further discussion on internal controls and  
risk management
 approving the remuneration and terms of engagement 
of the external auditors and
 agreeing the scope of the statutory audit with the external 
auditors prior to the commencement of their work and 
considering their ndings prior to the approval of the 
 nancial statements
the audit committee keeps the scope and cost effectiveness 
of both internal controls and the external audit under review 
the independence and objectivity of the external auditors 
are also considered on a regular basis with particular regard 
to the level of nonaudit fees in order to safeguard auditor 
independence and objectivity the committee uses its 
judgement in the approval of nonaudit services provided by 
the external auditors to ensure both the nature of the work 
and the level of fees paid are reasonable the split between 
audit and nonaudit fees for the year under review appears  
on page 50
governance
arena leisure plc 27 
annual report and accounts 2010 corporate governance continued
board and committee meetings
the attendances at board and committee meetings by the directors and senior executives of the company during 2010 were 
as follows
 
board 
 meetings
remuneration 
 committee
audit 
committee
nomination 
 committee
number of meetings 6 3 3 3
executive directors
mark elliott 6 – – 3
ian renton 6 – – –
tony harris 6 – – –
nonexecutive directors
david thorpe appointed 19 may 2010

52 2 –
raymond mould resigned 19 may 2010

11 – 2
andrew parker bowles 6 3 3 2
andrew page 5 2 2 2
  the maximum numbers of meetings during the period in which david thorpe was a board member were board 5 remuneration committee 2 audit committee 
2 nomination committee nil
  the maximum numbers of meetings during the period in which raymond mould was a board member were board 1 remuneration committee 1 nomination 
committee 3
board committee and individual performance
although a formal annual evaluation is not currently in place a continuous process of evaluation of the board its committees 
and the individual directors exists the composition of the board is also regularly considered 
internal control
the respective responsibilities of the directors and the auditors in connection with the accounts are explained on page 37 and 
page 38 in the statement of directors’ responsibilities and independent auditors’ report the directors’ statement on going 
concern appears on page 24 with further information given in note 2 to the ifrs nancial statements
the board of directors is responsible for the company’s system of internal control including the company’s reporting process 
and the group’s process for the preparation of consolidated accounts and it is the role of management to implement the 
board’s policies on risk and control the system of internal control is designed to manage and mitigate rather than eliminate 
the risk of failure to achieve business objectives in pursuing these objectives risk management and internal nancial 
operational and compliance controls can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance against material misstatement 
or loss the board has reviewed the effectiveness of internal controls during the year
the board con rms that there is an ongoing process for identifying evaluating and managing the signi cant risks faced by 
the group which complies with the guidance ‘internal control guidance for directors on the combined code’ this process has 
been in place throughout the current period and up to the date of approval of the nancial statements the process is regularly 
reviewed by the board
the key elements of the control framework and review processes across the group are as follows
 financial reporting a detailed formal budgeting process for all group businesses culminates in an annual group budget 
which is approved by the board results for the company and for its main constituent businesses are reported monthly 
against the budget to the board
 financial and accounting principles comprehensive nancial and accounting controls are required by the board for effective 
 nancial control where areas for improvement in the system of internal controls are identi ed the board considers the 
recommendations made by the audit committee and the external auditors
 capital investment the company has clearly de ned guidelines for capital expenditure these include annual budgets 
detailed appraisal and review procedures levels of authority and due diligence requirements where businesses are being 
acquired and
 treasury the treasury position of the group is managed centrally and monitored by the finance director
there are policies and procedures in place for the reporting by employees and the resolution of suspected fraudulent activities 
it is the policy of the group to employ staff and management of high integrity to train them appropriately and to require compliance 
with all regular laws regulations and internal policies
28 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 arena does not have an internal audit function following the 
necessary evaluation the board has concluded that due to 
the modest size of the group a formal internal audit function 
is not required appropriate internal audit work is however 
carried out by the group nance department
two of the directors of the group are on the board of the 
group’s joint venture at the races at least one of the 
group’s directors will attend all signi cant meetings of the 
joint venture where they will use their in uence to ensure 
that the highest standards of internal control are maintained
risk management
following publication of guidance for directors on internal 
control the turnbull guidance the board con rms its 
commitment to the management of risk within the organisation 
during the period under review a risk review has been 
overseen by the finance director the purpose of the risk 
review is to identify evaluate and report formally to the 
board on signi cant risk issues
information provided by the risk review internal management 
reporting external auditors and industry sources provides the 
basis on which the board carries out its assessment of risk 
to identify evaluate and manage any risk deemed signi cant 
to the achievement of the company’s strategic objectives 
the risk management process involves the maintenance 
of a risk register which identi es signi cant risks and the 
controls in place to manage these risks any control or other 
weaknesses are noti ed to the board and the appropriate 
action to be taken by management is identi ed and  
followed up 
there is a continued emphasis on risks affecting the  
health and safety of the group’s customers employees and 
racing participants with the group employing a quali ed 
health and safety manager whose responsibilities include 
food safety and 15 other fulltime quali ed employees 
to oversee these matters on behalf of the board their 
responsibilities include the communication of controls and 
best practice across the group staff training and building 
upon existing policies any issues are communicated to  
the directors
communication
the company places a great deal of importance on 
communication with its shareholders the full report and 
accounts are made available to all shareholders and on 
request to any other party when it has an interest in the 
group’s performance shareholders also have direct access 
to the company and the company responds to numerous 
letters and enquiries from shareholders on a wide range of 
issues there is regular dialogue with individual institutional 
shareholders and the views of the shareholders are 
communicated to the board after such discussions 
presentations to major shareholders are made at least twice 
yearly after the announcement of the interim and nal 
results details of which together with the group’s nancial 
reports and other announcements can be accessed via the 
group’s website wwwarenaleisureplccom
all shareholders have the opportunity to question the 
directors at the company’s annual general meeting at 
which the board highlights key business developments 
the listing rules – the model code
dealings in the company’s securities by directors and 
relevant employees follow the terms of the model code
by order of the board
robert mercer fcma
company secretary
7 march 2011
governance
arena leisure plc 29 
annual report and accounts 2010 directors
the following table shows the bene cial interests of the directors who held of ce during the year to 31 december 2010 in the 
ordinary shares of the company
 
fully paid ordinary shares in the company 
 at 31 december 2010 at 31 december 2009
david thorpe appointed 19 may 2010 – –
raymond mould resigned 19 may 2010 – 1404000
mark elliott – –
ian renton 30000 30000
tony harris – –
andrew parker bowles obe 42000 42000
andrew page – –
no changes to the above interests in shares have been noti ed to the company in the period from 31 december 2010 to  
4 march 2011 the directors’ holdings of options and awards over ordinary shares in the company are noted in the 
remuneration report on pages 31 to 36
the group’s insurance programme includes policies to insure the directors and senior of cers of the company against claims 
made against them personally as a result of the performance of their duties for the group
there are no restrictions on the transfer of securities in the company or on voting rights the company is not aware of any 
agreements between shareholders of the company that may result in such restrictions
substantial shareholders
the directors have been made aware of the following other interests representing 30 or more of the issued ordinary share 
capital of the company as at 4 march 2011
 ordinary shares of 5p  of issued share capital
rumney manor ltd 108896000 299
reuben brothers ltd 107639495 296
coatbridge ltd 40767217 112
fidelity investments 11536539 32
 reements
there are no signi cant agreements to which the company is party that take effect alter or terminate upon change of control 
of the company following a takeover bid there are no agreements between the company its directors or employees providing 
for compensation for loss of of ce or employment that occurs because of a takeover bid there are no signi cant contracts to 
which the company or one of its subsidiary undertakings is party and in which a director is materially interested details of 
the company’s agreement for the provision of media rights are disclosed in note 2 to the ifrs nancial statements
charitable and political donations
the group’s charitable donations in the year totalled £67000 2009 £19000 the group’s racecourses make gifts of raceday 
hospitality boxes admissions badges and restaurant packages to charitable causes which are disclosed at their retail value 
charities are also given the opportunity to name races and to advertise in raceday programmes in order to comply with 
accounting regulations arena has improved its process for recording these donationsinkind thereby ensuring all such 
donations have been captured in the year no political donations were made in the year 2009 none
additional disclosures
changes in asset values note 16 to the ifrs nancial statements
financial instruments note 26 to the ifrs nancial statements
capital structure note 28 to the ifrs nancial statements
share option and longterm incentive plan schemes note 32 to the ifrs nancial statements
annual general meeting
the notice convening the annual general meeting of the company on 6 may 2011 is available on the company’s website  
wwwarenaleisureplccom
auditors
in accordance with section 489 of the companies act 2006 a resolution for the reappointment of kpmg audit plc as auditors 
of the company is to be proposed at the forthcoming annual general meeting
disclosure of information to auditors
the directors who held of ce at the date of approval of this directors’ report con rm that so far as they are each aware there 
is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditors are unaware and each director has taken all the steps that he 
ought to have taken as a director to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s 
auditors are aware of the information
other statutory information
30 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 remuneration report
governance
as well as complying with the provisions of the combined 
code as disclosed in the corporate governance statement 
the company has applied the principles relating to directors’ 
remuneration as described below
remuneration committee
the remuneration committee consists of andrew parker 
bowles chairman andrew page and david thorpe appointed 
19 may 2010 the committee determines the remuneration 
of the executive directors and of certain other senior 
executives within the company the committee also 
determines the chairman’s fee the chairman does not 
participate in discussions of his own fee the chief executive 
may at the committee’s invitation attend meetings except 
when his own remuneration is discussed
the remuneration committee has appointed independent 
remuneration consultants aon hewitt ltd to advise on all 
aspects of senior executive remuneration aon hewitt ltd 
continues to act as consultant to the company and has no 
other connection with the company other than in the 
provision of advice on executive and employee remuneration
remuneration policy
the company’s remuneration policy is to pay individual 
directors a salary or fee at market levels for comparable jobs 
recognising the size of the company and the business sector 
in which it operates
the following comprised the principal elements of executive 
directors’ remuneration
 basic salary and bene ts
 annual performance bonus
 longterm incentives and
 pension contributions into a de ned contribution pension 
scheme
it is the group’s policy to ensure that there is a strong link 
between the level of directors’ remuneration and the 
performance of arena consequently only basic salaries and 
bene ts are xed these xed elements are recognised as 
being comparable with other companies the remuneration 
committee recognises that the longterm success of arena 
is largely dependent on attracting executives of the highest 
quality therefore each director can signi cantly augment 
their salary through annual bonuses and longterm incentives 
the group’s contributions to a de ned contribution pension 
scheme are based on basic salary levels only 
in addition to the statutory vote to be held on this 
remuneration report shareholders will be given the 
opportunity to ask the chairman of the remuneration 
committee andrew parker bowles questions on any 
aspect of the group’s remuneration policy at the 2011 
annual general meeting
the remuneration for nonexecutive directors consists of 
salary or fees for their services in connection with the board 
and board committee meetings they are not eligible for 
pension scheme membership their fees are determined 
by the executive directors who have regard to the level of 
salary or fees paid to the nonexecutive directors of similar 
companies and the time commitment required of each 
nonexecutive director
each element of remuneration payable to executive directors 
is discussed in more detail below
in addition ian renton received £10000 2009 £10000 as 
remuneration for his nonexecutive directorship of the british 
horseracing authority the term of which expired in july 2010

basic salaries for all executive directors are reviewed but 
not necessarily increased annually by the committee in 
determining the level of basic salaries the committee will 
give consideration to the government’s published in ation 
statistics salaries for comparable positions in similar sized 
companies and any signi cant change in the role performed 
by the director the committee also makes use of benchmark 
data provided by external remuneration consultants but is 
mindful of the potential ratcheting effect that such data 
can produce
in addition to basic salaries each executive director is 
entitled to the following main bene ts
 in addition to normal bank and public holidays  
chief executive – 29 working days’ holiday per annum 
finance director – 26 working days’ holiday per annum 
and racing director – 25 working days’ holiday per annum
 a fully expensed company car or cash equivalent and
 private health insurance for themselves their spouse  
and children
arena leisure plc 31 
annual report and accounts 2010 bonus
in addition to a basic salary the executive directors are 
entitled to an annual performancerelated bonus
speci c performance criteria are set by the remuneration 
committee at the commencement of the year following 
approval of the group’s budgets and are primarily related 
to de ned strategic and nancial objectives of the group 
the bonus payments that relate to the year under review 
were 27 of salary for the chief executive 22 of salary 
for the finance director and 23 for the racing director 
the maximum aggregate bonus potential for 2010 of 
the chief executive was 100 of salary 2009 100 
the finance director’s was 75 of salary 2009 75 
and the racing director’s was 75 of salary 2009 75 
longterm incentives
the committee believes that share ownership and the 
granting of share awards strengthen the link between 
executives’ personal interests and those of shareholders 
share options
in october 2006 nal grants of share options were made to 
the executive directors under the arena leisure discretionary 
share option scheme which expired in june 2007 
longterm incentive plan
with the expiration of the share option scheme in june 2007 
shareholder approval was obtained for a new longterm 
incentive plan ‘ltip’ at the 2007 annual general meeting 
the ltip provides for annual conditional awards of equity
settled shares to be made subject to the achievement 
of challenging performance conditions the key features 
are set out below
maximum award level
the normal maximum annual award is set at 100 of base 
salary in exceptional circumstances such as recruitment or 
retention awards may be made up to 200 of base salary 
the annual ltip award can be replaced by an additional 
performancerelated bonus of up to a maximum of 50 
of the normal annual bonus award
performance conditions
for the initial awards made in 2007 the performance 
conditions were structured using absolute adjusted earnings 
per share ‘eps’ growth targets this approach enabled the 
conditions to be tailored to the speci c circumstances of the 
company at the time and its prospects for the next threeyear 
period for the purposes of the initial awards as well as for 
awards made in future years adjusted eps is de ned as basic 
eps adjusted for certain oneoff events for awards made 
in 2008 and future years the performance conditions are 
to achieve adjusted eps growth in excess of in ation ‘rpi’ 
targets over the performance period
the awards made in 2007 and 2008 have not vested 
because the performance conditions have not been met
the 2009 awards were made later than normal in the year 
on 20 november 2009 and hence an extended performance 
period is being applied the conditions attached to the 2009 
awards are as follows for a fouryear performance period 
ending on 31 december 2012
remuneration report continued
adjusted eps growth over the  
fouryear performance period
vesting percentage of the  
shares subject to award
less than rpi16 0
rpi16 25
rpi40 100
between rpi16 and 
rpi40
 straightline vesting occurs 
 between 25 and 100 
the 2010 awards were made on 9 august 2010 the 
conditions attached to the 2010 awards are as follows over a 
threeyear performance period ending on 31 december 2012
adjusted eps growth over the 
threeyear performance period
vesting percentage of the  
shares subject to award
less than rpi30 0
rpi60 50
rpi90 100
between rpi30 and 
rpi60
 straightline vesting occurs  
 between 0 and 50
between rpi60 and 
rpi90
 straightline vesting occurs
  between 50 and 100
the committee’s intention is that awards will normally be 
made on an annual basis under the ltip to encourage 
sustained earnings growth
pension policy
each of the executive directors is entitled to participate in 
the group’s de ned contribution pension scheme to which 
the company will contribute 8 of basic salary the pension 
scheme provides life insurance cover equal to four times 
basic salary
service contracts
the remuneration committee has adopted the following 
policies concerning contracts and service periods which 
will be applied to any future appointment to the board
 the notice period required by the company to terminate 
contracts is 12 months for executive directors 
 if the company terminates without notice the individual  
is entitled to a payment in lieu of notice of up to 
12 months’ pay
 in the event of termination for reasons of misconduct  
no payment in lieu of notice is payable
 executive directors will be employed under normal 
contracts of employment but are required to give the 
company 12 months’ notice of their intention to leave
 nonexecutive directors are required to give three months’ 
notice under the terms of their service contracts and 
 the notice period required by the company to terminate 
contracts is three months for nonexecutive directors
32 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 governance
details of each director’s contract are shown below all contracts are on a rolling basis
director date of contract notice period 
david thorpe 19 may 2010 3 months
raymond mould resigned 19 may 2010 1 november 2005 3 months
mark elliott 27 september 2005 12 months
ian renton 9 april 2001 12 months
tony harris 1 may 2008 12 months
andrew parker bowles 8 september 1999 3 months
andrew page 1 december 2008 3 months
directors’ remuneration
the following disclosures on directors’ remuneration have been audited as required by section 497 of the companies act 2006
the emoluments of the individual directors were as follows
 
 year ended 
 31 december 2010
year ended  
31 december 2009
 
salaryfee 
£’000
bonus 
 £’000
 
 £’000
total  
2010  
£’000
pension 
contributions 
2010  
£’000
 total

 
 2009 
  £’000
pension 
contributions 
2009 
 £’000
david thorpe appointed 19 may 2010 53–– 53 – ––
raymond mould resigned 19 may 2010 40–– 40 – 85 –
mark elliott 292 80 14 386 23 582 23
ian renton 1744015 229 14 287 14
tony harris 180 40 10 230 14 293 14
andrew parker bowles 50–– 50 – 45 –
andrew page 50–– 50 – 45 –
839 160 39 1038 51 1337 51
  included within the 2009 total are additional bonuses which the remuneration committee awarded mark elliott ian renton and tony harris in speci c 
recognition of their success in concluding the media rights distribution agreement with sis the additional bonuses were £217000 £79000 and £69000 for 
mark elliott ian renton and tony harris respectively the cost of these bonuses is wholly related to the sis contract and has accordingly been deferred within 
intangible assets and will be spread over the veyear term of the contract commencing on 1 january 2012
directors’ holdings of share options
the directors’ holdings of options over ordinary shares are as follows
 
at  
31 december 
 2010
at  
31 december  
2009 exercise price
date from which 
 exercisable expiry date
mark elliott 1000000 1000000 4075p 3 october 2008 2 october 2015
 1045845 1045845 3950p 31 october 2009 30 october 2016
ian renton 250000 250000 10500p 25 may 2004 24 may 2011
 560953 560953 3950p 31 october 2009 30 october 2016
all the options above are held under the discretionary share option scheme with the exception of 73619 held by mark elliott 
and 28571 held by ian renton which are held under the share option plan of the grant exercisable from 31 october 2009 
the amounts above represent the 75 of the total grant that has vested
arena leisure plc 33 
annual report and accounts 2010 remuneration report continued
the share option performance criteria for these options are noted below
 date of grant options performance criteria
mark elliott 31 october 2006 1392405 exercisable from 31 october 2009 on a straightline 
basis between 30 and 100 if the company achieves 
annualised adjusted eps growth in excess of rpi  
over the performance period between 3 and 10 
based on the criteria 75 of this grant has vested
 3 october 2005 1000000 exercisable from 3 october 2008 if the market price 
of shares at the end of any dealing day after the date 
of grant is 25 or more greater than the option price 
of 4075p 100 of this grant has vested
ian renton 31 october 2006 7 46835 exercisable from 31 october 2009 on a straightline 
basis between 30 and 100 if the company achieves 
annualised adjusted eps growth in excess of rpi  
over the performance period between 3 and 10 
based on the criteria 75 of this grant has vested
 25 may 2001 125000 exercisable if the mean closing midprice of shares is at 
least 13975p over a continuous period of three months 
  62500 exercisable if the mean closing midprice of shares is at 
least 1595p over a continuous period of three months
  62500 exercisable if the mean closing midprice of shares is at 
least 1815p over a continuous period of three months
  250000
adjusted eps in relation to these options is de ned as basic eps adjusted for certain oneoff events
directors’ holdings of ltip share awards
the directors’ holdings of ordinary shares subject to award through the ltip are as follows
at 
 31 december  
2010
at 
 31 december 
 2009
vesting  
date
mark elliott 834763 –2013

1002917 1002917 2013

– 500773 10 april 2011

ian renton 498569 –2013

599000 599000 2013

– 291359 10 april 2011

tony harris 515021 –2013

618766 6187 66 2013

– 338983   8 may 2011

 the ltip conditional shares awarded in 2009 and 2010 will vest upon issue of the annual results for 2012 subject to the performance conditions being met
  the awards granted in 2008 which were due to vest on 10 april 2011 and 8 may 2011 will not vest because the performance conditions at 31 december 
2010 were not met
34 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 the performance criteria for the shares subject to award are noted below
 date award made shares performance criteria
mark elliott 9 august 2010 834763 vesting after issue of the annual results for 2012 
if adjusted eps growth over the three years ending 
31 december 2012 is rpi90 vesting percentage 
reduces to 50 if eps growth is rpi60 and 0 if  
eps growth is less than rpi30 straightline vesting 
occurs between 0 and 50 and between 50 
and 100
20 november 2009 1002917 vesting after issue of the annual results for 2012 
if adjusted eps growth over the four years ending 
31 december 2012 is rpi40 vesting percentage 
reduces to 25 if eps growth is rpi16 and 0 if eps 
growth is less than rpi16 straightline vesting occurs 
between 25 and 100
ian renton 9 august 2010 498569 vesting after issue of the annual results for 2012 
if adjusted eps growth over the three years ending 
31 december 2012 is rpi90 vesting percentage 
reduces to 50 if eps growth is rpi60 and 0 if  
eps growth is less than rpi30 straightline vesting 
occurs between 0 and 50 and between 50 
and 100
20 november 2009 599000 vesting after issue of the annual results for 2012 
if adjusted eps growth over the four years ending 
31 december 2012 is rpi40 vesting percentage 
reduces to 25 if eps growth is rpi16 and 0 if  
eps growth is less than rpi16 straightline vesting 
occurs between 25 and 100
tony harris 9 august 2010 515021 vesting after issue of the annual results for 2012 
if adjusted eps growth over the three years ending 
31 december 2012 is rpi90 vesting percentage 
reduces to 50 if eps growth is rpi60 and 0 if 
eps growth is less than rpi30 straightline vesting 
occurs between 0 and 50 and between 50 
and 100
 20 november 2009 618766 vesting after issue of the annual results for 2012 
if adjusted eps growth over the four years ending 
31 december 2012 is rpi40 vesting percentage 
reduces to 25 if eps growth is rpi16 and 0 if  
eps growth is less than rpi16 straightline 
vesting occurs between 25 and 100
adjusted eps in relation to these options is de ned as basic eps adjusted for certain oneoff events 
the midmarket price of arena leisure plc ordinary shares at 31 december 2010 was 2650p high and low prices in the year 
ended 31 december 2010 were 3700p and 2575p respectively the grant price of the shares awarded in 2010 was 3495p
governance
arena leisure plc 35 
annual report and accounts 2010 performance graph
the following graph compares the total return on the company’s shares with that of the ftse small cap total return index 
over the last ve years the reasons the company has chosen this particular index are that it is considered the most likely 
benchmark by which the majority of shareholders would want to assess their investment in arena and it is generally less 
volatile over time than other market indices
total shareholder return
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
arena leisure total shareholder return index
ftse small cap total shareholder return index
31 dec
2005
31 dec
2006
31 dec
2007
31 dec
2008
31 dec
2009
31 dec
2010
on behalf of the board
andrew parker bowles
chairman remuneration committee
7 march 2011
36 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
statement of directors’ responsibilities
the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report 
and the group and parent company nancial statements 
in accordance with applicable law and regulations
company law requires the directors to prepare group and 
parent company nancial statements for each nancial year 
under that law they are required to prepare the group nancial 
statements in accordance with international financial 
reporting standards ‘ifrs’ as adopted by the eu and 
applicable law and have elected to prepare the parent 
company nancial statements in accordance with uk 
accounting standards and applicable law uk generally 
accepted accounting practice
under company law the directors must not approve the 
 nancial statements unless they are satis ed that they give  
a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and 
parent company and of their pro t or loss for that period  
in preparing each of the group and parent company nancial 
statements the directors are required to
 select suitable accounting policies and then apply  
them consistently
 make judgements and estimates that are reasonable  
and prudent
 for the group nancial statements state whether they 
have been prepared in accordance with ifrs as adopted 
by the eu
 for the parent company nancial statements state 
whether applicable uk accounting standards have been 
followed subject to any material departures disclosed and 
explained in the parent company nancial statements and
 prepare the nancial statements on the going concern 
basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the group 
and the parent company will continue in business
the directors are responsible for keeping adequate 
accounting records that are suf cient to show and explain the 
parent company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable 
accuracy at any time the nancial position of the parent 
company and enable them to ensure that its nancial 
statements comply with the companies act 2006 they have 
general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably 
open to them to safeguard the assets of the group and to 
prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities
under applicable law and regulations the directors are also 
responsible for preparing a directors’ report directors’ 
remuneration report and corporate governance statement 
that comply with that law and those regulations
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and 
integrity of the corporate and nancial information included 
on the company’s website legislation in the uk governing the 
preparation and dissemination of nancial statements may 
differ from legislation in other jurisdictions
directors’ responsibilities
responsibility statement of the directors in respect of 

the directors con rm that to the best of their knowledge
 the nancial statements prepared in accordance with 
the applicable set of accounting standards give a true 
and fair view of the assets liabilities nancial position 
and pro t and loss of the company and the undertakings 
included in the consolidation taken as a whole and
 the directors’ report includes a fair review of the 
development and performance of the business and the 
position of the company and the undertakings included 
in the consolidation taken as a whole together with a 
description of the principal risks and uncertainties that 
they face
by order of the board
robert mercer fcma
company secretary
7 march 2011
registered of ce 
408 strand 
london wc2r 0ne
arena leisure plc 37 
annual report and accounts 2010 independent auditors’ report 
to the members of arena leisure plc
we have audited the nancial statements of arena leisure plc 
for the year ended 31 december 2010 set out on pages 39 to 
78 the nancial reporting framework that has been applied 
in the preparation of the group nancial statements is 
applicable law and international financial reporting 
standards ‘ifrs’ as adopted by the eu the nancial 
reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation 
of the parent company nancial statements is applicable 
law and uk accounting standards uk generally accepted 
accounting practice
this report is made solely to the company’s members 
as a body in accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 of the 
companies act 2006 our audit work has been undertaken so 
that we might state to the company’s members those matters 
we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for 
no other purpose to the fullest extent permitted by law we do 
not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the 
company and the company’s members as a body for our 
audit work for this report or for the opinions we have formed
respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
as explained more fully in the statement of directors’ 
responsibilities set out on page 37 the directors are 
responsible for the preparation of the nancial statements 
and for being satis ed that they give a true and fair view 
our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the 
 nancial statements in accordance with applicable law and 
international standards on auditing uk and ireland those 
standards require us to comply with the auditing practices 
board’s ‘apbs’ ethical standards for auditors

a description of the scope of an audit of nancial statements 
is provided on the apb’s website at wwwfrcorgukapb
scopeprivatecfm

in our opinion
 the nancial statements give a true and fair view of the 
state of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as 
at 31 december 2010 and of the group’s pro t for the year 
then ended
 the group nancial statements have been properly 
prepared in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the eu
 the parent company nancial statements have been 
properly prepared in accordance with uk generally 
accepted accounting practice and
 the nancial statements have been prepared in 
accordance with the requirements of the companies act 
2006 and as regards the group nancial statements 
article 4 of the ias regulation
opinion on other matters prescribed by the companies 
act 2006
in our opinion
 the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be 
audited has been properly prepared in accordance with 
the companies act 2006 
 the information given in the directors’ report for the 
 nancial year for which the nancial statements are 
prepared is consistent with the nancial statements and
 the information given in the corporate governance 
statement set out on pages 26 to 29 with respect to 
internal control and risk management systems in relation 
to nancial reporting processes and about share capital 
structures is consistent with the nancial statements
matters on which we are required to report by exception
we have nothing to report in respect of the following
under the companies act 2006 we are required to report 
to you if in our opinion
 adequate accounting records have not been kept by the 
parent company or returns adequate for our audit have 
not been received from branches not visited by us or
 the parent company nancial statements and the part of 
the directors’ remuneration report to be audited are not 
in agreement with the accounting records and returns or
 certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration speci ed 
by law are not made or
 we have not received all the information and explanations 
we require for our audit or
 a corporate governance statement has not been prepared 
by the company 
under the listing rules we are required to review
 the directors’ statement set out on page 24 in relation 
to going concern
 the part of the corporate governance statement on pages 
26 to 29 relating to the company’s compliance with the 
nine provisions of the june 2008 combined code speci ed 
for our review and
 certain elements of the report to members by the board 
on directors’ remuneration 
p korolkiewicz
senior statutory auditor for and on behalf of  
kpmg audit plc statutory auditor  
chartered accountants
15 canada square 
london e14 5gl  
7 march 2011
38 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
note
2010 
trading  
£’000
separately  
disclosed 
 items  
£’000
2010 
 total  
£’000
2009 
 trading  
£’000
separately  
disclosed 
 items  
£’000
2009  
total  
£’000
revenue 5 63983 – 63983 65239 – 65239
cost of sales 46897 – 46897 477 49 – 477 49
 17086 – 17086 17490 – 17490
other operating income 7 ––– –418 418
administrative costs 13024 – 13024 13101 – 13101
 6 4062 – 4062 4389 418 4807
share of posttax results of joint venture 19 1352 – 1352 515 – 515
 5414 – 5414 4904 418 5322
 finance expense 11 2058 – 2058 1659 – 1659
 finance income 11 141 126 267 456 2 458
net nance expense 11 1917 126 1791 1203 2 1201
 3497 126 3623 3701 420 4121
income tax expense 12 ––– –––

comprehensive income 3497 126 3623 3701 420 4121
attributable to
–  equity shareholders of the parent 
company 13 3605 126 3731 3793 420 4213
– noncontrolling interest 108 – 108 92 – 92
3497 126 3623 3701 420 4121
pence pence
earnings per share 13
basic earnings per share 102 116
diluted earnings per share 102 116
the nancial results above derive from continuing activities
the notes on pages 43 to 71 form part of these nancial statements
consolidated statement of comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 december 2010
arena leisure plc 39 
annual report and accounts 2010 note
share  
capital
£’000
share 
premium
£’000
merger 
reserve
£’000
  
retained 
earnings 
£’000
total equity 
before non
controlling 
interest
£’000
 
non
controlling 
interest 
£’000
total equity
£’000
at 1 january 2009 
  as reported 18210 223 5417 46985 70835 1809 72644
impact of change in 
accounting policy – – – 10 10 – 10
at 1 january 2009 
restated 18210 223 5417 46975 70825 1809 72634
pro t for the year and total 
comprehensive income – – – 4213 4213 92 4121
transactions with owners
– sharebased payment 32 – – – 28 28 – 28
– dividends paid 14 –––––––
total transactions with owners – – – 28 28 – 28
impact of change in 
accounting policy 15 –––22–2
at 31 december 2009 
restated 18210 223 5417 51162 75012 1717 76729
pro t for the year and total 
comprehensive income – – – 3731 3731 108 3623
transactions with owners
– sharebased payment 32 – – – 320 320 – 320
– dividends paid 14 – – – 1384 1384 – 1384
total transactions with owners – – – 1064 1064 – 1064
at 31 december 2010 18210 223 5417 53829 77679 1609 79288
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
the notes on pages 43 to 71 form part of these nancial statements
consolidated statement of changes in shareholders’ equity
for the year ended 31 december 2010
40 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
note
2010 
£’000
 2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
noncurrent assets 
property plant and equipment 16 140685 135646
intangible assets 17 6072 6035
 investment in joint venture 
 – share of gross assets 4028 3307
 – share of gross liabilities 5535 6166
19 1507 2859
 goodwill in respect of joint venture 19 1580 1580
 loans to joint venture 19 4308 4754
4381 3475
total noncurrent assets 151138 145156
current assets 
inventories 20 471 422
trade and other receivables 21 13238 4848
cash and cash equivalents 23 3099 351
total current assets 16808 5621
total assets 167946 150777
current liabilities 
bank overdraft 23 – 187 4
trade and other payables 22 5821 6750
loans and borrowings 25 11242 12853
accruals and deferred income 24 4618 4751
total current liabilities 21681 26228
noncurrent liabilities 
loans and borrowings 25 31669 31924
accruals and deferred income 24 35308 15896
total noncurrent liabilities 66977 47820
total liabilities 88658 7 4048
total net assets 79288 76729
equity 
share capital 28 18210 18210
share premium 29 223 223
merger reserve 29 5417 5417
retained earnings 29 53829 51162
equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company 77679 75012
noncontrolling interest 29 1609 17 17
total equity 79288 76729
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
the notes on pages 43 to 71 form part of these nancial statements
these nancial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 7 march 2011 and signed on 
its behalf by
mark elliott tony harris
chief executive finance director
consolidated balance sheet
at 31 december 2010
arena leisure plc 41 
annual report and accounts 2010 consolidated cash flow statement
for the year ended 31 december 2010
note
2010  
£’000
 2009 
 £’000

pro t for the year 3623 4121
adjustments for 
depreciation 16 3786 3479
sharebased payment expensecredit 32 320 28
net nance expense 11 1791 1201
share of pro t of joint venture 19 1352 515
pro t on sale of property plant and equipment 31 420
grant amortisation 72 7 4
cash ows from operating activities before changes in working capital and provisions 8065 7764
increasedecrease in trade and other receivables 8390 567
increasedecrease in inventories 49 122
increase in trade and other payables and deferred income 18857 11227
net cash from operating activities 18483 19680
 
purchases of property plant and equipment 8554 20385
proceeds from sale of property plant and equipment 295 625
additions to intangibles 37 27
repayment of loans to joint venture 19 515 300
interest received 72 367
net cash used in investing activities 7709 19120
 
proceeds from bank and other borrowings 38987 3900
capital grants received – 98
repayment of loans 41120 3237
repayment of nance lease liabilities 119 45
interest paid 2516 1975
dividends paid 14 1384 –
net cash used in nancing activities 6152 1259
increasedecrease in cash and cash equivalents 23 4622 699
net cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 23 1523 824
net cash and cash equivalents at end of year 23 3099 1523
the notes on pages 43 to 71 form part of these nancial statements
42 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
notes forming part of the financial statements
for the year ended 31 december 2010
1 reporting entity
arena leisure plc ‘the company’ is a company domiciled 
in the uk the address of the company’s registered of ce is 
408 strand london wc2r 0ne the consolidated nancial 
statements of the company as at and for the year ended 
31 december 2010 comprise the company and its subsidiaries 
together referred to as ‘the group’ and the group’s interest 
in jointly controlled entities the group is primarily involved 
in the ownership and operation of racecourses and the 
worldwide broadcast and exploitation of racecourse media 
rights via the group’s shareholding in its at the races ‘atr’ 
joint venture
2 basis of preparation
statement of compliance
the group nancial statements have been prepared and 
approved by the directors in accordance with international 
financial reporting standards as adopted by the eu ‘adopted 
ifrss’ the company has elected to prepare its parent 
company nancial statements in accordance with uk gaap 
these are presented on pages 72 to 78
the nancial statements were approved by the board of 
directors on 7 march 2011
basis of measurement
the nancial statements have been prepared on the historical 
cost basis except for the following
 derivative nancial instruments are measured at fair 
value
 financial instruments at fair value through the pro t 
or loss are measured at fair value and 
 liabilities for equitysettled sharebased payment 
arrangements are measured at fair value
the methods used to measure fair values are discussed 
further in note 4
functional and presentation currency
these nancial statements are presented in sterling which 
is the company’s functional currency all nancial information 
is presented in sterling and has been rounded to the 
nearest thousand
use of estimates and judgements
the preparation of nancial statements in conformity with 
ifrs requires management to make judgements estimates 
and assumptions that affect the application of accounting 
policies and the reported amounts of assets liabilities 
revenue and expenditure estimates and underlying 
assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis and are 
based on management’s best knowledge of the amounts 
events or actions at 31 december 2010 actual results may 
differ from these estimates
the key estimates and judgements made by management 
during the year relate to the carrying value of the racecourse 
development projects held within assets under construction 
note 16 an assessment is made concerning the projections 
of future cash ows from the development projects which are 
dependent on amongst other factors planning consent the 
award of a casino licence and estimated construction costs
information about other signi cant areas of estimation and 
judgements in applying accounting policies is included in the 
following notes
 note 17 – provisions for impairment assumptions are 
made each year concerning the projections of future 
cash ows arising from the racecourses when reviewing 
the carrying value of goodwill and property plant 
and equipment
 note 16 – residual values an assessment is made of 
the estimated residual values of property plant and 
equipment residual values are reviewed annually
 note 27 – recognition and measurement of deferred 
tax assets and liabilities judgements are required in 
determining the amounts to be recognised in particular 
when assessing the extent to which deferred tax assets 
should be recognised with consideration given to the 
timing and level of future taxable income and
 note 32 – measurement of sharebased payment 
assumptions are made each year concerning the 
projections of future pro ts of the group in assessing 
the likelihood of performance criteria being met
going concern
the group’s business activities together with the factors 
likely to affect its future development performance and 
position are set out in the review of operations on pages 
19 to 21 the nancial position of the group its cash ows 
liquidity position and borrowing facilities are described in 
the financial review on pages 23 to 24 in addition note 26 
to the nancial statements includes the group’s objectives 
policies and processes for managing its capital its nancial 
risk management objectives details of its nancial 
instruments and hedging activities and its exposures to 
credit risk and liquidity risk further disclosures relating 
to liquidity risk are included within notes 11 and 25
the group continues to be a cashgenerative operational 
business with goodquality assets revenues are generated 
from a variety of sources including industry funding through 
the horserace betting levy board ‘hblb’ and income from 
its veyear to 31 december 2011 media rights contract to 
provide live racing pictures to uk licensed betting of ces in 
addition on 22 july 2009 the group signed a new veyear 
agreement commencing on 1 january 2012 for the provision 
of media rights with satellite information services ltd ‘sis’ 
that provides for £320m in advance payments of which 
£250m has already been received and the balance of 
which is secured by letter of credit 
arena leisure plc 43 
annual report and accounts 2010 2 basis of preparation continued
in march 2010 the group agreed new banking facilities 
with its relationship lender lloyds banking group plc ‘lbg’ 
totalling £550m which replaced all previous bank facilities 
and which are committed until and amortise to maturity on 
31 december 2013 see financial review on pages 23 to 24 
although the current economic conditions create uncertainty 
particularly over funding levels from the levy on bookmakers 
the group’s forecasts and projections taking account of 
reasonably possible changes in trading performance together 
with mitigating actions that are within management’s control 
the group is expected to be able to operate within the level 
and covenant conditions of its new debt facilities
the directors have a reasonable expectation that the 
company and group have adequate resources to continue in 
operational existence for the foreseeable future accordingly 
they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing 
the annual report and accounts
3 accounting policies
the following new standards interpretations and 
amendments effective for the rst time from 1 january 2010 
have not had a material effect on the nancial statements
 amendments to ifrs 2 ‘sharebased payment’
 revised ifrs 3 ‘business combinations’
 amendments to ias 27 ‘consolidated and separate 
financial statements’
 amendments to ias 39 and ifrs 7 ‘financial instruments’
 amendments to ias 39 and ifric 9 ‘embedded 
derivatives’
 improvements to ifrs issued by iasb april 2009
 ifric 12 ‘service concession arrangements’
 ifric 15 ‘agreements for the construction of real estate’ 
 ifric 16 ‘hedges of net investment in a foreign 
operation’
 ifric 17 ‘distribution of noncash assets to owners’ and
 ifric 18 ‘transfer of assets from customers’
from 1 january 2010 the group has applied improvements to 
ifrs issued by iasb april 2009 which includes amendments 
to ias 17 ‘leases’ the change in accounting policy see 
below has been applied retrospectively and has had no 
material impact on earnings per share see note 15 for 
further information
the principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation 
of the nancial statements are set out below these policies 
have been applied to all the years presented in the nancial 
statements and have been applied consistently by group 
entities unless otherwise stated
revenue
revenue principally relates to income derived directly from 
the holding of horserace meetings including industryrelated 
income from the hblb and the nonraceday use of the 
racecourse facilities the group also derives income from 
the operation of two hotels located at ling eld park and 
wolverhampton racecourses and two golf courses located 
at ling eld park and southwell racecourses
media rights
income received from license to bookmakers for use in lbos 
and from atr in respect of media rights over the broadcasts 
from the group’s racecourses is recognised within revenue 
in the period in which the relevant race meetings are held
at 29 march 2004 the group held within accruals and 
deferred income the sum of £32m in respect of deferred 
media rights income received under a previous atr contract 
this income has been released to revenue on a straightline 
basis over a veyear period ending in june 2009
horserace betting levy board revenue
the hblb provides revenue to racecourses to support the holding 
of race meetings particularly through prize money and integrity 
cost funding for taxation purposes this revenue can be waived 
by racecourses with hblb approval and transferred to ‘capital 
credits’ which is a taxef cient scheme operated by the hblb 
these capital credits may be claimed by racecourses against 
expenditure on hblb approved capital projects and as a result 
are not assessable to tax it is the group’s policy that as they are 
derived from and are dependent upon trading activities capital 
credit receipts are recognised within revenue when the race 
meeting to which they relate is held a corresponding receivable 
is recognised until the cash is received
admissions revenue and other racing income
admissions revenue which includes ticket and hospitality 
sales and other racing income which includes sponsorship 
oncourse betting commission racecards and advertising 
is recognised in pro t or loss once a race meeting has been 
held income from the sale of annual badges is released to 
revenue on a straightline basis over the number of race 
meetings the annual badge covers
revenue from the utilisation of racecourse facilities
the group’s racecourses receive income for the use of the 
racecourse facilities for conferencing banqueting exhibitions 
weddings and other events this income is recognised in pro t 
or loss once an event has taken place
catering income
revenue is received from food and beverage provided by 
the group’s inhouse catering and sold through retail units 
restaurant dining hospitality packages and nonraceday 
event packages income is also received though commissions 
payable from external mobile retail units this income is 
recognised in pro t or loss once a race meeting or non
raceday event has been held
notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
44 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
other leisure
the group operates two hotels at ling eld park racecourse and 
wolverhampton racecourse two golf courses at ling eld park 
racecourse and southwell racecourse and a health club and 
spa at ling eld park racecourse revenue from these operations 
is recognised when goods or services have been provided  
eg – hotel stay golf pay and play golf proshop sales spa 
usage monthly health club memberships with the exception  
of income from golf club memberships which is recognised  
on a straightline basis over the period of membership
basis of consolidation
subsidiaries
where the company has the power either directly or 
indirectly to govern the nancial and operating policies 
of another entity or business so as to obtain bene ts from 
its activities it is classi ed as a subsidiary subsidiaries 
are consolidated from the date control commences until the 
date control ceases the consolidated nancial statements 
present the results of the group as if they formed a single 
entity intercompany transactions and balances between 
group companies are eliminated in full
associates and joint ventures
associate undertakings are entities in which the group holds 
a longterm noncontrolling interest and has the power to 
in uence but not control the nancial and operating policy 
decisions of the entity joint ventures are entities in which 
the group holds a longterm interest and has joint control 
under a contractual arrangement for strategic nancial and 
operating decisions 
from 1 january 2010 acquisitions of noncontrolling interests 
are accounted for as transactions with owners in their capacity 
as owners and therefore no goodwill is recognised as a result 
of such transactions the adjustments to noncontrolling 
interests are based on a proportionate amount of the net 
assets of the subsidiary
prior to 1 january 2010 goodwill was recognised on the 
acquisition of noncontrolling interests in a subsidiary 
which represented the excess of the cost of the additional 
investment over the carrying amount of the interest in the 
net assets acquired at the date of the transaction
business combinations
business combinations are accounted for using the 
acquisition method as at the acquisition date which is the 
date on which control is transferred to the group control is 
the power to govern the nancial and operating policies of an 
entity so as to obtain bene ts from its activities in assessing 
control the group takes into consideration potential voting 
rights that currently are exercisable
for acquisitions on or after 1 january 2010 the group 
measures goodwill at the acquisition date as the fair value 
of the consideration transferred plus the recognised amount 
of any noncontrolling interests in the acquiree plus if the 
business combination is achieved in stages the fair value 
of the existing equity interest in the acquiree less the net 
recognised amount generally fair value of the identi able 
assets acquired and liabilities assumed
when the excess is negative a bargain purchase gain is 
recognised immediately in pro t or loss
the consideration transferred does not include amounts 
related to the settlement of preexisting relationships 
such amounts are generally recognised in pro t or loss 
costs related to the acquisition other than those associated 
with the issue of debt or equity securities that the group 
incurs in connection with a business combination are 
expensed as incurred
any contingent consideration payable is recognised at fair 
value at the acquisition date if the contingent consideration 
is classi ed as equity it is not remeasured and settlement is 
accounted for within equity otherwise subsequent changes 
to the fair value of the contingent consideration are 
recognised in pro t or loss
when sharebased payment awards replacement awards 
are required to be exchanged for awards held by the acquiree’s 
employees acquiree’s awards and relate to past services 
then all or a portion of the amount of the acquirer’s replacement 
awards is included in measuring the consideration transferred 
in the business combination this determination is based on 
the marketbased value of the replacement awards compared 
with the marketbased value of the acquiree’s awards and the 
extent to which the replacement awards relate to past andor 
future service
for acquisitions between 1 january 2004 and 1 january 
2010 goodwill represents the excess of the cost of the 
acquisition over the group’s interest in the recognised amount 
generally fair value of the identi able assets liabilities and 
contingent liabilities of the acquiree when the excess was 
negative a bargain purchase gain was recognised immediately 
in pro t or loss
transaction costs other than those associated with the 
issue of debt or equity securities that the group incurred 
in connection with business combinations were capitalised 
as part of the cost of the acquisition
as part of its transition to ifrss the group elected to restate 
only those business combinations that occurred on or after 
1 january 2003 in respect of acquisitions prior to 1 january 
2003 goodwill represents the amount recognised under 
the group’s previous accounting framework uk gaap
goodwill
goodwill that arises upon the acquisition of subsidiaries is 
included in intangible assets for the measurement of goodwill 
at initial recognition see the business combinations policy
other intangible assets
directly attributable incremental costs associated with 
contracts are capitalised as intangible assets these are 
measured initially at cost and are amortised over their useful 
economic lives
3 accounting policies continued
arena leisure plc 45 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
financial instruments

nonderivative nancial instruments comprise trade and other 
receivables cash and cash equivalents loans and borrowings 
and trade and other payables nonderivative nancial 
instruments are recognised initially at fair value subsequent 
to initial recognition nonderivative nancial instruments are 
measured as described below 
cash and cash equivalents this category comprises cash 
balances and call deposits bank overdrafts that are 
repayable on demand and form an integral part of the group’s 
cash management are included as a component of cash and 
cash equivalents
other these are nonderivative nancial instruments with 
 xed or determinable payments that are not quoted in an 
active market they are measured at amortised cost using the 
effective interest rate method less any provision for impairment 
other nancial liabilities include the following items
 bank borrowings which are recognised at the outstanding 
amount advanced less issue costs which are accreted to 
the income statement over the life of the borrowing facility 
interest expense on outstanding borrowings is charged to 
the income statement as incurred and
 interestfree loans which are initially recognised at the 
present value of the amount advanced these loans are 
subsequently measured at amortised cost using the 
effective interest rate method which ensures that any 
interest expense over the period to repayment is at a 
constant rate on the balance of the liability in the  
balance sheet

the group holds derivative nancial instruments to hedge 
its interest rate risk exposures derivatives are recognised 
initially at fair value attributable transaction costs are 
recognised in pro t or loss when incurred subsequent to 
initial recognition derivatives are measured at fair value 
and changes therein are accounted for in pro t or loss
share capital
ordinary shares are classi ed as equity incremental costs 
directly attributable to the issue of ordinary shares and share 
options are recognised as a deduction from equity net of any 
tax effects

contributions to the group’s de ned contribution pension 
scheme are recognised as an employee bene t expense 
in pro t or loss when they are due
sharebased payments
where share options or conditional shares are awarded to 
employees the fair value of the instruments at the date of 
grant is charged to the statement of comprehensive income 
over the vesting period nonmarket vesting conditions are 
taken into account by adjusting the number of equity 
instruments expected to vest at each balance sheet date  
so that ultimately the cumulative amount recognised over 
the vesting period is based on the number of options that 
eventually vest market vesting conditions are factored into  
the fair value of the options granted as long as all other 
vesting conditions are satis ed a charge is made irrespective 
of whether the market vesting conditions are satis ed  
the cumulative expense is not adjusted for failure to achieve 
a market vesting condition
leased assets
where substantially all of the risks and rewards incidental 
to ownership of a leased asset have been transferred to 
the group a ‘ nance lease’ the asset is treated as if it had 
been purchased outright the amount initially recognised as 
an asset is the lower of fair value and present value of the 
minimum lease payments payable over the term of the lease 
the corresponding lease commitment is shown as a liability 
lease payments are analysed between capital and interest 
the interest element is charged to the statement of 
comprehensive income over the period of the lease and  
is calculated so that it represents a constant proportion of  
the lease liability the capital element reduces the balance 
owed to the lessor
where substantially all of the risks and rewards incidental 
to ownership are retained by the lessor an ‘operating lease’ 
the total rentals payable under the lease are charged to the 
statement of comprehensive income on a straightline basis 
over the lease term
the land and buildings elements of property leases are 
considered separately for the purposes of lease classi cation 
the lease in respect of worcester racecourse has been 
classi ed as a nance lease the lease in respect of doncaster 
racecourse was previously split into an operating element 
in respect of the land and a nance element in respect of the 
buildings under the new accounting policy the land has been 
reclassi ed as a nance lease this reclassi cation has been 
applied retrospectively see note 15 for further information
3 accounting policies continued
46 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
income tax
income tax expense comprises current and deferred tax 
income tax expense is recognised in pro t or loss except to 
the extent that it relates to items recognised directly in equity 
in which case it is recognised in equity
current tax is the tax payable on the taxable income for the 
year using tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the 
reporting date and any adjustment to tax payable in respect 
of previous years
deferred tax is recognised using the balance sheet method 
providing for temporary differences between the carrying 
amounts of assets and liabilities for nancial reporting 
purposes and the amounts used for taxation purposes 
except for differences arising on
 the initial recognition of goodwill
 goodwill for which amortisation is not tax deductible
 the initial recognition of an asset or liability in a 
transaction which is not a business combination and at 
the time of the transaction affects neither accounting nor 
taxable pro t and
 investments in subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities 
where the group is able to control the timing of the 
reversal of the difference and it is probable that the 
difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future
deferred tax is measured at the tax rates that are expected 
to be applied to the temporary differences when they reverse 
based on the laws that have been enacted or substantively 
enacted by the reporting date deferred tax balances are  
not discounted 
deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset if there is a 
legally enforceable right to offset current tax liabilities and 
assets and they relate to income tax levied by the same 
authority on the same taxable entity or on different tax 
entities but they intend to settle current tax liabilities and 
assets on a net basis or their tax assets and liabilities will 
be realised simultaneously
recognition of deferred tax assets is restricted to those 
instances where it is probable that taxable pro ts will 
be available against which the temporary difference can 
be utilised deferred tax assets are reviewed at each  
reporting date
earnings per share
the group presents basic and diluted earnings per share 
‘eps’ data for its ordinary shares basic eps are calculated 
by dividing the pro t or loss attributable to ordinary 
shareholders of the company by the weighted average 
number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period 
diluted eps are determined by adjusting the pro t or loss 
attributable to ordinary shareholders and the weighted 
average number of ordinary shares outstanding for the effects 
of all dilutive potential ordinary shares which comprise share 
options granted to employees
dividends
dividends are recognised when they become legally payable 
in the case of interim dividends to equity shareholders this 
is when paid by the company in the case of nal dividends 
this is when approved by the shareholders at the annual 
general meeting
property plant and equipment
items of property plant and equipment are recognised at cost 
less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment 
losses
cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to the 
acquisition of the asset purchased software that is integral 
to the functionality of the related equipment is capitalised 
as part of that equipment borrowing costs related to the 
acquisition or construction of qualifying assets are capitalised 
as part of the acquisition or construction cost
when parts of an item of property plant and equipment have 
different useful lives they are accounted for as separate 
items major components of property plant and equipment
gains and losses on disposal of an item of property plant 
and equipment are determined by comparing the proceeds 
from disposal with the carrying amount of property plant 
and equipment and are recognised net within ‘other income’ 
in pro t or loss 
the cost of replacing part of an item of property plant and 
equipment is recognised in the carrying amount of the item 
if it is probable that the future economic bene ts embodied 
within the part will ow to the group and its cost can be 
measured reliably the carrying amount of the replaced 
part is derecognised the costs of the daytoday servicing 
of property plant and equipment are recognised in pro t 
or loss as incurred
freehold land is not depreciated depreciation is recognised 
in pro t or loss on all other items of property plant and 
equipment to write off the cost less estimated residual 
values of items over their expected useful economic lives 
depreciation is provided on a straightline basis at the 
following rates
freehold buildings 2 per annum
leasehold land and buildings over the length of lease 
to residual value
allweather tracks surface 5 to 10 per 
annum
base 25 to 33 per 
annum
plant and machinery 25 to 33 per annum
fixtures and ttings 5 to 25 per annum
motor vehicles 25 per annum
depreciation methods useful lives and residual values are 
reviewed at each reporting date
3 accounting policies continued
arena leisure plc 47 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
impairment 
financial assets
a nancial asset is assessed at each reporting date to 
determine whether there is any objective evidence that it 
is impaired a nancial asset is considered to be impaired 
if objective evidence indicates that one or more events have 
had a negative effect on the estimated future cash ows of 
that asset an impairment loss in respect of a nancial asset 
measured at amortised cost is calculated as the difference 
between its carrying amount and the present value of the 
estimated future cash ows discounted at the original 
effective interest rate 
individually signi cant nancial assets are tested for 
impairment on an individual basis the remaining nancial 
assets are assessed collectively in groups that share similar 
credit risk characteristics
all impairment losses are recognised in pro t or loss an 
impairment loss is reversed if the reversal can be related 
objectively to an event occurring after the impairment loss 
was recognised 

impairment tests in respect of goodwill are undertaken 
annually on 31 december where it is not possible to estimate 
the recoverable amount of an individual asset the impairment 
test is carried out on the asset’s cashgenerating unit in this 
case being the individual racecourses where the carrying 
value of a racecourse exceeds its recoverable amount  
ie the higher of value in use and fair value less costs to sell 
the asset is written down accordingly in assessing value in 
use the estimated future cash ows are discounted to their 
present value using a pretax discount rate that re ects 
current market assessments of the time value of money 
and the risks speci c to the asset impairment losses are 
recognised in pro t or loss an impairment loss in respect 
of goodwill is not reversed
other non nancial assets are subject to impairment tests 
whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that 
their carrying value may not be recoverable if any such 
indication exists then the asset’s recoverable amount is 
estimated with the impairment recognised in pro t or loss 
impairment losses recognised in prior periods are assessed 
at each reporting date for any indications that the loss has 
decreased or no longer exists an impairment loss is reversed 
if there has been a change in the estimates used to 
determine the recoverable amount an impairment loss is 
reversed only to the extent that the asset’s carrying amount 
does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been 
determined net of depreciation or amortisation if no 
impairment loss had been recognised
3 accounting policies continued finance income and expenses
finance income comprises interest income on funds  
invested changes in the fair value of nancial assets at fair 
value through pro t or loss and gains on hedging instruments 
that are recognised in pro t or loss interest income is 
recognised as it accrues in pro t or loss using the effective 
interest method 
finance expenses comprise interest expense on borrowings 
changes in the fair value of nancial assets at fair value 
through pro t or loss impairment losses recognised on 
 nancial assets losses on hedging instruments that are 
recognised in pro t or loss and nance lease interest  
all borrowing costs with the exception of those described 
above are recognised in pro t or loss using the effective 
interest method
inventories
inventories are recognised at the lower of cost and net 
realisable value the cost of inventories is based on the 
 rstin rstout principle net realisable value is the  
estimated selling price in the ordinary course of business
government grants
government grants received on capital expenditure are 
initially recognised on receipt as deferred income the 
deferred income balance is recognised in pro t or loss 
proportionally over the period in which the depreciation 
on those assets is charged
operating segments
the operating segment is reported in a manner consistent 
with the internal reporting provided to the chief operating 
decisionmaker the chief operating decisionmaker has 
been identi ed as the board of directors
separately disclosed items
these are items which in management’s judgement  
need to be disclosed by virtue of their size or incident in  
order for the user to obtain a proper understanding of the 
 nancial information
48 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
3 accounting policies continued
new standards and interpretations not yet adopted
the international accounting standards board and the international financial reporting interpretations committee have issued 
the following standards and interpretations which are not yet effective for the year ended 31 december 2010 and have not yet 
been applied in preparing these consolidated nancial statements but which are to be applied to nancial statements with 
periods commencing on or after the following dates 
international accounting standards iasifrs euendorsed effective date
amendments to ias 32 ‘financial instruments presentation’ 1 february 2010
improvements to ifrs issued may 2010 1 january 2011
revised ias 24 ‘related party disclosures’ 1 january 2011
amendments to ifrs 7 ‘financial instruments disclosures’ 1 july 2011
international financial reporting interpretations committee ifric euendorsed effective date
ifric 19 ‘extinguishing financial liabilities with equity instruments’ 1 july 2010
amendments to ifric 14 ‘the limit on a de ned bene t’ 1 january 2011
the directors do not anticipate that the adoption of these standards and interpretations will have a material impact on the 
group’s nancial statements in the period of application and all relevant aspects of improvements to ifrs will be applied
4 determination of fair values
a number of the group’s accounting policies and disclosures require the determination of fair value for both nancial and 
non nancial assets and liabilities fair values have been determined for measurement andor disclosure purposes based 
on the following methods when applicable further information about the assumptions made in determining fair values is 
disclosed in the notes speci c to that asset or liability
derivatives
the fair value of interest rate hedging agreements is based on bank valuations 

fair value which is determined for disclosure purposes is calculated based on the present value of future principal and interest 
cash ows discounted at the market rate of interest at the reporting date 
sharebased payment transactions
the fair value of employee stock options is measured using the blackscholes pricing analysis measurement inputs include 
share price on measurement date exercise price of the instrument expected volatility based on weighted average historic 
volatility adjusted for changes expected due to publicly available information weighted average expected life of the 
instruments based on historical experience and general option holder behaviour expected dividends and the riskfree interest 
rate based on government bonds service and nonmarket performance conditions attached to the transactions are not taken 
into account in determining fair value
the fair value of employee ltip shares is based upon the market value at the time of grant adjusted for management’s 
assessment of the probability of the scheme criteria being met at the vesting dates in respect of service and nonmarket 
performance conditions
trade receivables and payables
for trade receivables and payables the carrying amount is a reasonable approximation of fair value
arena leisure plc 49 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
5 revenue
segmental information is disclosed in note 10 revenue is analysed as follows
2010  
£’000
2009  
£’000
hblb 17727 21542
media rights income in relation to lbos 11611 11628
other racecourserelated revenue 34645 32069
63983 65239

2010  
£’000
2009  
£’000
this has been arrived at after chargingcrediting
prize money 14776 17501
staff costs note 8 10727 9616
depreciation of property plant and equipment note 16 3786 3479
auditors’ remuneration 203 236
pro t on disposal of xed assets
–  pro t on disposal of the land and buildings and xtures and ttings associated with  
ling eld park leisure club note 16 – 418
– pro t on disposal of other xed assets 31 2
amortisation of government grants 72 7 4
auditors’ remuneration can be analysed as follows
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
audit fees applicable to the company’s consolidated accounts 17 8
audit fees applicable to the statutory audit of the accounts of subsidiaries 104 104
advisory services debt and nance restructuring advice 82 124
203 236
7 other operating income
2010  
£’000
2009 
 £’000
separately disclosed items
pro t on disposal of the land and buildings and xtures and ttings  
associated with ling eld park leisure club note 16 – 418
50 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
8 staff numbers and costs
the average number of persons employed by the group including directors and parttime staff but excluding raceday casual 
staff during the year analysed by category was as follows
2010  
number
2009 
 number
management and administration 118 150
customer services 242 196
360 346
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
staff costs including directors
wages and salaries 9318 8607
contributions to de ned contribution pension plans 170 175
sharebased payment expensecredit note 32 320 28
employer’s national insurance contribution and similar taxes 919 862
10727 9616
the company employs casual staff to assist during racedays the number of casual staff varies between 30 and 500 
depending on the raceday casual staff are not included in the staff numbers or costs stated above the aggregate payroll 
in respect of casual staff for 2010 was £3499000 2009 £3868000 
9 directors’ and key management remuneration
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
directors’ remuneration
directors’ emoluments 1038 972
contributions to de ned contribution pension plans 51 51
sharebased payment expensecredit note 32 203 6
1292 1017
there were three directors 2009 three in the company’s de ned contribution pension scheme during the year
further disclosures relating to the remuneration of each individual director are included in the remuneration report of which 
the information on pages 33 to 36 has been audited directors’ emoluments include amounts attributed to bene tsinkind on 
which the directors are assessed for tax purposes this may differ from the cost to the group of providing those bene ts 
included in notes 8 and 9
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
key management remuneration including directors
wages and salaries 1628 1667
contributions to de ned contribution pension plans 86 95
sharebased payment expensecredit note 32 288 29
2002 1733
a sharebased payment credit arose in 2009 as a result of adjusting the cumulative expense in relation to the group’s ltip 
awards to re ect current vesting expectations note 32
there are ve employees excluding directors de ned as being key management for 2010 2009 six
arena leisure plc 51 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
10 segment information
the group has one reportable operating segment racecourse operations this business segment arises in the uk this is 
reported in a manner consistent with the internal reporting provided to the chief operating decisionmaker for the purposes of 
evaluating performance and deciding upon resource allocation the chief operating decisionmaker has been identi ed as the 
board of directors of arena leisure plc
racecourse operations total
 
2010 
 £’000
 2009  
 restated 
 £’000
2010  
£’000
 2009 
 restated 
 £’000
total external revenue 63983 65239 63983 65239
 7247 6985 7247 6985
preopening costs associated with ling eld park hotel development 484 163 484 163
 6763 6822 6763 6822
other operating income – 418 – 418
 6763 7240 6763 7240
central operations 2381 2461
sharebased payment 320 28
share of joint venture result 1352 515
finance income 267 458
finance expense 2058 1659
 3623 4121
other information
additions to property plant and equipment 9089 19249 9089 19249
segment assets 167946 150777 167946 150777
segment liabilities 88658 7 4048 88658 7 4048
intangible assets 6072 6035 6072 6035
investment in joint ventures 4381 3475 4381 3475
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
total external revenue is analysed in note 5 the group derives a signi cant proportion of its annual revenue from the hblb 
and from its media rights agreement with bookmakers
11 finance income and expense
2010  
£’000
2009 
 £’000
finance income
bank interest receivable 72 367
other interest receivable note 33 69 89
derivative liability held for risk management note 26 126 2
267 458
finance expense
bank interest payable 1672 1240
finance lease interest 113 64
amortisation of previous gain on present value of interestfree loans 273 355
2058 1659
net nance expense 1791 1201
the valuation of the group’s interest rate derivative contracts at 31 december 2010 has resulted in a liability of £1328000 
2009 £1454000 being recorded on the balance sheet and a credit of £126000 2009 £2000 to the statement of 
comprehensive income which has been separately disclosed 
a further £844000 2009 £735000 of interest costs relating to development projects in progress have been capitalised 
in the year note 16
52 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
12 income tax expense
2010 
 £’000
2009 
£’000
uk corporation tax
current and deferred tax expense – –
the reasons for the difference between the actual tax charge for the year and the standard rate of corporation tax in the uk 
applied to pro ts for the year are as follows
2010 
 £’000
 2009 
 £’000
tax reconciliation
factors affecting tax for the period
– pro t on ordinary activities before taxation 3623 4121
pro t on ordinary activities at standard rate of corporation tax in the uk of 28 2009 28 1014 1154
effects of
expenses not deductible for tax purposes 417 112
nontaxable income 47 4 20
adjustment for share of pro t of joint venture 379 144
decreaseincrease in unrecognised tax losses 184 1095
utilisation of brought forward tax losses 167 2197
effect of changes in tax rates on deferred tax note 27 227 –
total tax charge for the year – –
at the year end corporation tax losses representing trading and nontrading losses of £64363000 2009 £63988000 were 
available for utilisation in future years subject to agreement with hm revenue  customs
13 earnings per share
2010  
£’000
2009 
 £’000
earnings
pro t for the year attributable to equity shareholders of the parent company 3731 4213
2010 
number 
million
2009  
number 
million
weighted average number of shares
weighted average number of shares used in the calculation of basic and adjusted eps 3642 3642
dilutive potential ordinary shares
employee share options – –
weighted average number of shares used in the calculation of diluted eps 3642 3642
certain employee options have not been included in the calculation of diluted eps because their exercise is contingent on the 
satisfaction of speci c criteria that had not been met at the end of the year in addition certain employee options have also 
been excluded from the calculation of diluted eps as their exercise price is greater than the weighted average share price 
during the year ie they are outofthemoney and therefore would not be dilutive the total number of share options and ltip 
shares excluded in 2010 and 2009 are disclosed in note 32
the average market value of the company’s shares for the purposes of calculating the dilutive effect of share options was 
based on quoted market prices for the period that the options were outstanding
arena leisure plc 53 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
14 dividends
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
final dividend of 038p 2009 nil per ordinary share proposed and paid during the year 
relating to the previous year’s results 1384 –
the directors propose to pay a nal dividend for 2010 of 038p per ordinary share totalling £1384000 2009 038p per 
ordinary share totalling £1384000 this will be recognised as a deduction to reserves in the current nancial year
15 change in accounting policy leased assets
the 99 year lease in respect of doncaster racecourse was previously split into an operating element in respect of the land 
and a nance element in respect of the buildings under the new accounting policy the land has been reclassi ed as a nance 
lease this reclassi cation has been applied retrospectively and in accordance with ias 8 the prior year balance sheet gures 
have been restated with the net effect recognised in equity in the opinion of the directors the impact of the change is not 
material and therefore a third balance sheet has not been presented
the changes to the balance sheet can be summarised as follows
at  
31 december  
2009  
as reported  
£’000
impact of  
change in  
policy 
 £’000
at 
31 december  
2009  
restated 
 £’000
property plant and equipment 135350 296 135646
current liabilities – loans and borrowings 12851 2 12853
current liabilities – accruals and deferred income 4799 48 4751
noncurrent liabilities – loans and borrowings 3157 4 350 31924
retained earnings 51170 8 51162
impact on
– equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company 75020 8 75012
– noncontrolling interest 1717 – 1717
net impact on equity 76737 8 76729
54 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
16 property plant and equipment
assets  
under  
construction  
£’000
 long  
 leasehold  
 land and 
  buildings 
 restated

 
  £’000
freehold 
land 
buildings and 
allweather  
tracks  
£’000
plant and 
 machinery 
£’000
 fixtures 
 ttings and 
 vehicles 
 £’000
 total 
 restated

 
 £’000
cost 
at 1 january 2009 13286 30939 64820 19151 9351 137547
additions 17682 237 738 408 135 19200
reclassi cations 99 620 – 516 5 –
disposals – – 119 84 156 359
at 31 december 2009 31067 30556 65439 19991 9335 156388
additions 542 127 5985 1379 1056 9089
reclassi cation 26535 – 20171 4958 1406 –
disposals – 199 37 90 86 412
at 31 december 2010 5074 30484 91558 26238 11711 165065
depreciation and impairment losses
at 1 january 2009 1050 507 5978 4608 5371 17514
charged in the year – 27 4 845 1489 87 4 3482
disposals – –6875 111 254
at 31 december 2009 1050 781 6755 6022 6134 207 42
charged in the year – 243 930 1679 934 3786
reclassication – 1 –1––
disposals – – 5 80 63 148
at 31 december 2010 1050 1025 7680 7620 7005 24380
net book value 
at 31 december 2008 12236 30432 58842 14543 3980 120033
at 31 december 2009 30017 29775 58684 13969 3201 135646
at 31 december 2010 4024 29459 83878 18618 4706 140685
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
security in relation to the group’s freehold land and buildings in disclosed in note 25
assets under construction consist of expenditure in respect of proposed developments at wolverhampton royal windsor 
folkestone and doncaster racecourses these costs will be depreciated once the developments are complete and available 
for use the expenditure includes a variety of professional fees incurred in the design and planning process for the individual 
developments such as building architects engineers surveyors cost consultants planning consultants legal fees and 
specialist reports
certain capitalised costs have been reclassi ed after the completion of development projects following advice from quantity 
surveyors the directors allocate costs based on their best estimate and appropriate reclassi cations are made following the 
quantity surveyor’s report
additions include £844000 2009 £735000 relating to interest capitalised in relation to the development projects in 
progress at doncaster ling eld park wolverhampton and royal windsor interest was capitalised at libor plus 1 libor 
plus 25 or libor plus 20 to 325 as applicable there is no resulting impact on the tax charge for the year 2009 none
the land and buildings and xtures and ttings associated with the ling eld park leisure club were sold for £615000 in 
november 2009 resulting in a pro t on disposal of £418000
arena leisure plc 55 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
16 property plant and equipment continued
the net carrying amount of property plant and equipment includes the following amounts in respect of assets held under 
 nance leases
2010  
£’000
 2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
long leasehold land and buildings 29459 29775
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
at 31 december 2010 the gross original cost of all assets with a £nil net book value still in use was £3681000 2009 £3564000
17 intangible assets
goodwill 
£’000
other 
intangibles 
£’000
total  
£’000
other intangible assets
at 31 december 2008 – – –
additions – 439 439
at 31 december 2009 – 439 439
additions –3737
at 31 december 2010 – 476 476
goodwill
relating to the royal windsor racecourse business combination 2870 – 2870
relating to the wolverhampton racecourse business combination 1157 – 1157
relating to the southwell racecourse business combination 873 – 873
relating to the doncaster racecourse business combination 696 – 696
at 31 december 2008 31 december 2009 and 31 december 2010 5596 – 5596
total intangible assets at 31 december 2010 5596 476 6072
total intangible assets at 31 december 2009 5596 439 6035
total intangible assets at 31 december 2008 5596 – 5596
the additions to intangible assets in 2009 and 2010 represent costs incurred speci cally in relation to the group’s new media 
rights agreement the costs will be amortised on a straightline basis over the veyear term of the agreement which 
commences on 1 january 2012
a review of the carrying value of goodwill arising from the acquisition of the group’s racecourses was undertaken at 
31 december 2010 the board has conducted its review by comparing the carrying value of each racecourse with its 
recoverable amount the recoverable amount of each racecourse was based on value in use 
value in use was determined by discounting the expected future pretax cash ows generated from the continuing use of 
each racecourse using the following key assumptions
 cash ows were projected based on management’s approved budgets and forecasts for a veyear period
 a terminal value was based on an extrapolation of the estimate of the future cash ows beyond the veyear period into 
perpetuity and a pretax discount rate no growth was assumed in the terminal value 2009 none
 for the purpose of this impairment review only the estimated pretax cash ows assume a standard growth rate of 50 per 
annum 2009 50 on top of which the new terms of the media rights agreement with sis have been overlaid except that 
the projections for doncaster racecourse have been moderated to re ect earnings reaching stabilisation following its 
redevelopment and
 a pretax discount rate of 80 2009 80 was applied in determining the terminal value and the recoverable amounts 
of the racecourses the discount rate was based on an adjusted estimated weighted average cost of capital
56 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
17 intangible assets continued
the resultant net present values were compared to the carrying values of each racecourse and were found to exceed the asset 
value of each racecourse plus the goodwill value as a result of this review the board does not consider that any impairment 
provision is necessary
the directors have considered the sensitivity of the cash ow projections to the key assumptions based on adjusted discount 
rates and growth rate and have concluded given the headroom in the projections that there would be no signi cant change 
to the carrying value of the assets
the directors have identi ed two key assumptions for which there could be a reasonably possible change that could cause the 
carrying amount to exceed the recoverable amount a reduction in projected cash ows of more than 200 2009 250 or 
a change in the assumed discount rate to more than 100 2009 110 would be required before the estimated recoverable 
amount of any single asset becomes equal to its carrying value
18 subsidiaries
the principal subsidiaries of arena leisure plc in which the company owns 100 of the ordinary share capital with the 
exception of worcester racecourse ltd 81 and the doncaster racecourse management company ltd 81 are as follows
name country of incorporation principal activity
windsor racing ltd england  wales racecourse
ling eld park ltd england  wales racecoursehotel and leisure
wolverhampton racecourse ltd england  wales racecoursehotel
southwell racecourse ltd england  wales racecourse
folkestone race course ltd england  wales racecourse
worcester racecourse ltd

england  wales racecourse
windsor concessions ltd england  wales racecourse concessions
the doncaster racecourse management co ltd

england  wales racecourse
the windsor racecourse co ltd england  wales holding company
arena leisure racing ltd

england  wales racecourse operations
arena leisure catering ltd

england  wales racecourse catering operations
 denotes direct holdings
 doncaster noncontrolling interest has been recognised on the grounds that the noncontrolling interest has an obligation to fund up to a speci ed amount
 worcester noncontrolling interest has not been recognised on the grounds of net liabilities and that the noncontrolling interest has no obligation to fund
19 joint ventures
the joint venture company in which the company owns an equity share is as follows
equity 
 share classi cation country of registration principal activity
attheraces holdings ltd trading as at the races 4585 joint venture england  wales racing broadcaster
arena leisure plc 57 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
19 joint ventures continued
the movement in the group’s investment in its joint venture operation was as follows
joint venture
2010 
£’000
2009 
 £’000
cost
at 1 january and 31 december 1580 1580

at 1 january 2859 337 4
pro t for the year 1352 515
at 31 december 1507 2859
loans
at 1 january 4754 4965
interest 69 89
repayments 515 300
at 31 december 4308 4754
net book value at 31 december 4381 3475
arena leisure plc and bskyb as part of their shareholders’ agreement have a commitment to fund atr by way of loans 
up to an amount not exceeding £10000000 pro rata to shareholding arena leisure is therefore committed to fund up to 
£5000000 of which £4308000 has been provided by way of loans at 31 december 2010 2009 £4754000 these loans 
are considered in substance to form part of the company’s net investment in atr settlement of these loans in full is neither 
planned nor expected to occur in the foreseeable future
the summary nancial information for the atr joint venture not adjusted for the 4585 ownership held by the group is as follows
2010  
£’000
2009  
£’000
noncurrent assets 348 187
current assets 8437 7026
current liabilities 3559 4135
noncurrent liabilities 8513 9313
net liabilities 3287 6235
income 19162 16060
expenses 16213 14937
pro t after tax 2949 1123
20 inventories
2010  
£’000
2009  
£’000
consumables 471 422
in 2010 consumables recognised as cost of sales amounted to £3877000 2009 £3429000 
21 trade and other receivables
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
trade receivables 11136 2590
other receivables 228 688
prepayments and accrued income 1874 1570
13238 4848
all amounts shown above are due within one year
58 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
21 trade and other receivables continued
an analysis of the interest rate receivable on nancial assets and information about fair values exposure to credit risk and 
impairment losses related to trade receivables are given in note 26
22 trade and other payables
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
trade payables 3470 4378
sales and social security taxes 777 562
derivatives 1328 1454
other payables 246 356
5821 6750
derivatives represent the fair value of interest rate hedging agreements used to manage interest rate risk information on 
exposure to interest rate risk is disclosed in note 26
23 cash and cash equivalents
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
cash and cash equivalents 3099 351
overdrafts notes 25 and 26 – 187 4
net cash and cash equivalents 3099 1523
increasedecrease in cash and cash equivalents 4622 699
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 1523 824
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 3099 1523
the group’s exposure to interest rate risk is disclosed in note 26
24 accruals and deferred income
2010 
 £’000
 2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
current liabilities
accruals 1967 2430
deferred income 2651 2321
4618 4751
noncurrent liabilities
deferred income 35308 15896
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
deferred income includes amounts relating to deferred government grants to doncaster and wolverhampton racecourses 
the amounts originally granted were £882000 to doncaster racecourse and £2298000 to wolverhampton racecourse 
the grants are being amortised over 50 years
also included within deferred income is a £12500000 advanced payment received from sis in july 2009 upon signing a 
new agreement for the provision of horseracing content from arena’s racecourses into licensed betting of ces in the united 
kingdom and ireland and two other amounts in relation to the same agreement a further £12500000 advanced payment 
received in july 2010 and £7000000 due for payment in july 2011 which has been invoiced and is included within trade 
receivables the income deferred will be recognised in pro t or loss on a straightline basis over the veyear term of the 
agreement which commences on 1 january 2012 and is classed as noncurrent
arena leisure plc 59 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
25 loans and borrowings
the following provides information on the contractual terms of the group’s interestbearing loans and other borrowings which 
are measured at amortised cost for more information on the group’s exposure to interest rate and liquidity risk see note 26
2010  
£’000
 2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
current liabilities
bank loans 9829 11500
finance lease liabilities 2 6
other loans 1411 1347
11242 12853
noncurrent liabilities
bank loans 29158 28000
finance lease liabilities 1009 1011
other loans 1502 2913
31669 31924
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
other loans represent interestfree loans from the hblb and as required under ias 39 are shown at present value with a net 
loss of £273000 2009 £355000 taken to the statement of comprehensive income note 11 the balance outstanding on 
the hblb loans current and noncurrent is £2913000 2009 £4820000
terms and repayment schedule
in march 2010 the group agreed £550m of committed banking facilities with its relationship bank lbg which replaced all 
previous bank facilities as outlined in the financial review on pages 23 to 24 the secured term loan reduces by £50m at 
31 january and 31 july each year until 31 january 2012 at which point it reduces by £25m each quarter
terms and conditions of outstanding loans were as follows
at 31 december 2010 at 31 december 2009
nominal interest rate
year of 
maturity
face value 
£’000
carrying 
amount 
£’000
 face value 
 restated

 
  £’000
 carrying 
 amount 
 restated

 
 £’000
secured bank revolving credit loan libor  20–325 2013 9500 9313 ––
secured bank term loan libor  20–325 2013 30000 2967 4 ––
secured bank term loan libor  25 2013 –– 9500 9500
secured bank term loan libor  1 2013 –– 7000 7000
secured bank revolving credit loan libor  1 2010 –– 10000 10000
secured bank term loan libor  1 2018 –– 13000 13000
bank overdraft note 23 base  1 –– 1115 1115
bank overdraft note 23 libor  1 –– 759 759
hblb interestfree loans 0 2012 3200 2913 4820 4260
finance lease liabilities – doncaster 
racecourse 127 4 2106 718 718 722 722
finance lease liabilities – worcester 
racecourse 575 2049 293 293 295 295
total interestbearing liabilities 43711 42911 47211 46651
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
all loans are in sterling the bank loans and overdrafts are secured by a xed and oating charge on the assets and 
undertakings of the group companies and a rst legal charge on all the freehold and leasehold properties owned by the group 
this security is subject to deeds of priority and permitted charges in favour of the hblb in respect of security for interestfree 
loans provided to the group with the exception of southwell racecourse which until 31 december 2011 is subject to deeds of 
priority and permitted charges in favour of sis in respect of security for the advanced payments relating to the new media rights 
agreement commencing 1 january 2012
60 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
25 loans and borrowings continued
borrowing facilities
the group has undrawn committed borrowing facilities available at 31 december 2010 in which all conditions have been met
floating  
rate  
2010 
 £’000
floating 
 rate  
2009 
 £’000
expiry within one year – 4626
expiry between one and two years – –
expiry in more than two years 10500 13000
10500 17626
finance lease liabilities
finance lease payments are due as follows
minimum  
lease 
 payments 
 2010  
£’000
interest  
2010 
£’000
present  
value  
2010 
 £’000
not later than one year 119 117 2
later than one year and not later than ve years 476 466 10
later than ve years 97 46 87 47 999
10341 9330 1011
 minimum  
 lease  
 payments 
 2009  
 restated

 
 £’000
 interest 
  2009 
 restated

 
  £’000
 present  
 value 
  2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
not later than one year 119 113 6
later than one year and not later than ve years 476 467 9
later than ve years 9865 8863 1002
10460 9443 1017
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
the lease in respect of doncaster racecourse provides for additional future payments that are contingent upon changes in the 
retail price index contingent rents will be recognised in the income statement when payable
26 financial instruments
risk management
the board has overall responsibility for the group’s risk management framework the finance director is responsible for 
developing and monitoring the group’s risk management policies and reporting to the board
the group’s risk management policies are established to identify and analyse the risks faced by the group to set appropriate 
controls and to monitor risks and adherence to controls risk management policies and systems are reviewed regularly to 
re ect changes in market conditions and the group’s activities the board oversees how management monitors compliance 
with the group’s risk management policies and procedures 
the group is exposed through its use of nancial instruments to one or more of the following nancial risks
 interest rate risk
 liquidity risk and
 credit risk
arena leisure plc 61 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
26 financial instruments continued
the policy for each of the above risks is described in more detail below
interest rate risk
interest rate risk is the risk that changes in interest rates will affect the group’s pro ts the objective of management is to 
control interest rate risk exposures 
with the exception of interestfree borrowing from the hblb the group’s bank borrowings are at oating interest rates  
all of the group’s borrowings are in sterling 
in 2010 the group entered into an interest rate swap arrangement in respect of £150m of debt at 477 which became 
effective on 31 march 2010 the amount hedged under this instrument reduces to £100m from 1 april 2011 and to £50m 
from 1 april 2012 this swap replaced the group’s cap and collar arrangement that had been effective from 1 october 2007 
in 2008 the group entered into an interest rate swap arrangement in respect of £75m of debt and an interest rate cap 
arrangement in respect of £25m of debt both of which became effective on 2 october 2008 and for which the effective 
libor rate is a maximum of 527 as at 31 december 2010 the group was exposed to interest rate risk on debt above these 
amounts the board constantly monitors the nancial markets and the group’s future borrowing requirements to ensure that 
this policy remains in the group’s interest
liquidity risk
liquidity risk is the risk that the group will not be able to meet its nancial obligations as they fall due liquidity risk is managed 
centrally on a group basis to ensure the group will have suf cient liquidity to meet its liabilities when they fall due 
bank facilities are agreed at appropriate levels having regard to the group’s forecast operating cash ows and future capital 
expenditure requirements in march 2010 the group agreed £550m of committed banking facilities with its relationship bank 
lbg which replaced all previous bank facilities as outlined in the financial review on pages 23 to 24
at 31 december 2010 the group maintained the following lines of credit both of which are with lbg
 £200m group secured revolving credit loan which can be drawn for working capital and general corporate use interest is 
payable at between libor plus 20 and libor plus 325 and
 £300m group secured term loan which can be drawn for working capital and general corporate use interest is payable 
at between libor plus 20 and libor plus 325 this loan reduces by £50m at 31 january and 31 july each year until 
31 january 2012 at which point it reduces by £25m each quarter
it is the group’s policy not to commence construction on development projects until funding has been secured
further details on the loan terms repayments and committed borrowing facilities of the group at 31 december 2010 are 
disclosed in note 25
credit risk
credit risk is the risk of nancial loss to the group if a customer or counterparty to a nancial instrument fails to meet its 
contractual obligations the group has limited exposure to credit risk income derived from much of the group’s raceday 
activity is paid on the day of the event or is invoiced and paid in advance of the event with the exception of a small number 
of signi cant centrally negotiated transactions credit control is managed on a local basis
although the group is exposed through the derivation of a high proportion of its income from a small number of sources these 
sources are the hblb which is operated under government statute bookmakers for which a central contract exists for fees 
payable in return for transmission of pictures of live racing into lbos across the uk and ireland and the group’s 4585 joint 
venture company atr to which the group sells its media rights it is therefore the view of the board that credit risk is minimal 
the group has established an allowance for impairment representing its estimate of incurred losses in respect of trade and 
other receivables this allowance relates to speci c individual exposures
62 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
26 financial instruments continued
capital management
the board’s policy is to maintain a strong capital base so as to maintain investor creditor and market con dence and to sustain 
future development of the business the company’s objective for managing its capital is to ensure that group entities will be 
able to continue as a going concern while maximising the return to shareholders as well as sustaining the future development 
of its business in order to maintain or adjust the capital structure arena may alter the total amount of dividends paid to 
shareholders return capital to shareholders issue new shares draw down additional debt or sell assets to reduce debt it is 
the group’s policy to look for a return of in excess of 10 on net cash cost when evaluating development projects the board 
monitors the level of dividends to ordinary shareholders 
it is the board’s policy to ensure there is a strong link between the remuneration of the directors and other key employees and 
the performance of the group final grants under the arena leisure discretionary share option scheme were made in 2006 
and shareholder approval was obtained in april 2007 for a new longterm incentive plan ‘ltip’ with initial awards being made 
in 2007 and further awards made each year thereafter
arena’s capital structure consists of debt which includes the loans and borrowings disclosed in note 25 cash and cash equivalents 
note 23 and equity attributable to the parent comprising share capital reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in notes 28 
and 29 the group seeks to maintain a balance between the higher returns that might be possible with higher levels of borrowings 
and the advantages and security afforded by a sound capital position
neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries are subject to externally imposed capital requirements
financial assets and liabilities
exposure to credit risk
the carrying amount of nancial assets represents the maximum credit exposure the maximum credit exposure to credit risk 
at the reporting date was
2010  
£’000
2009  
£’000
cash and cash equivalents note 23 3099 351
trade and other receivables excluding prepayments 12088 4848
loans to atr note 19 4308 4754
19495 9953
the maximum exposure to credit risk for trade and other receivables at the reporting date by source of income was
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
hblb 185 56
media rights income in relation to lbos 2630 1328
sis secured by letter of credit 7000 –
atr 873 459
loans to atr 4308 4754
other receivables 1400 3005
16396 9602
impairment losses
the ageing of trade receivables note 21 at the reporting date was
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
not past due 8598 2079
past due 030 days 1765 246
past due 3160 days 683 121
more than 60 days 90 144
11136 2590
 includes £70m due from sis on 22 july 2011 and secured by letter of credit
 the balance for 2010 includes £1335000 which was paid on 4 january 2011
arena leisure plc 63 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
26 financial instruments continued
in 2010 the allowance for impairment in respect of trade receivables was £18000 2009 £44000 this allowance is made 
up of several individually insigni cant speci c exposures 2009 several individually insigni cant speci c exposures 
the movement in the allowance for impairment in respect of trade receivables during the year was as follows
2010  
£’000
2009 
 £’000
balance as at 1 january 44 366
impairment loss recognised 12 44
amounts written off 25 343
amounts received 13 23
balance at 31 december 18 44
there are no impairment losses pertaining to the other categories of nancial assets
liquidity risk
the following are the contractual maturities including estimated interest of nancial liabilities
at 31 december 2010
carrying  
amount  
£’000
contractual 
 
 £’000
less than  
1 year  
£’000
12 years  
£’000
25 years  
£’000
more than  
5 years  
£’000
secured bank loans note 25 38987 41961 11238 10803 19920 –
other loans note 25 2913 3200 1600 1600 – –
trade and other payables excluding derivatives 
note 22 4493 4493 4493 – – –
accruals note 24 1967 1967 1967 – – –
derivatives – interest rate hedging agreements 
note 22 1328 1210 605 453 152 –
49688 52831 19903 12856 20072 –
at 31 december 2009
 carrying 
  amount  
 restated

 
  £’000
 contractual  
 cash ows 
 restated

 
  £’000
 less than 
  1 year 
 restated

  
 £’000
 
 12 years  
£’000
25 years  
£’000
 more than  
 5 years  
 £’000
secured bank loans 39500 42034 12205 1769 18514 9546
other loans 4260 4820 1620 1600 1600 –
trade and other payables excluding derivatives 4738 4738 4738 – – –
accruals 2430 2430 2430 – – –
derivatives – interest rate hedging agreements 1454 1308 458 458 392 –
 52382 55330 21451 3827 20506 9546
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
interest on the secured loans has been estimated using 12month libor at 31 december 2010 2009 12month libor at 
31 december 2009
the carrying amount of nancial derivatives is based on the market valuation as at 31 december provided by lbg the 
contractual cash ows of nancial derivatives are made by reference to the differential between the nominal rate of the 
instrument and the forward swap rate over the period of the instrument for cap instruments the rate is below the contracted 
rate and as a result no cash ow is projected 
64 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
26 financial instruments continued
interest rate risk
the currency and interest pro le of the group’s nancial assets and liabilities are as follows
floating rate liabilities interestfree liabilities total
2010  
£’000
2009  
£’000
2010  
£’000
 2009 
 restated

 
  £’000
 2010 
 £’000
 2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
sterling 40315  42828 9373 11988 49688 54816
floating rate assets interestfree assets total
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
2010  
£’000
2009 
 £’000
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
sterling 7407 4831 12088 3551 19495 8382
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
the rate at which interest is payable on hedged oating liabilities is 477 to 527 2009 476 to 550 the rate at which 
interest is payable on unhedged oating liabilities is 20 to 325 above libor 2009 10 above bank of scotland base 
rate or libor or 25 above libor
the rate at which interest is receivable on cash balances is 025 2009 025
in respect of the oating rate liabilities a change of 100 basis points in interest rates at the reporting date would result in the 
following increasedecrease in pro t and loss
change in pro t or loss
cash ow sensitivity oating rate instruments
1 increase 
£’000
1 decrease  
£’000
at 31 december 2009 254 254
at 31 december 2010 153 153
the above analysis assumes that all other variables remain constant
fair values
the book value and fair value of nancial assets and liabilities are as follows
2010 2009
book value  
£’000
fair value  
£’000
 book value 
 restated

 
  £’000
 fair value 
 restated

 
 £’000
trade and other receivables excluding prepayments 12088 12088 4848 4848
cash and cash equivalents note 23 3099 3099 351 351
loans to atr note 19 4308 4308 4754 4754
derivatives – interest rate hedging agreements note 22 1328 1328 1454 1454
bank loans note 25 38987 38987 39500 39500
other loans note 25 2913 2913 4260 4260
trade and other payables excluding derivatives note 22 4493 4493 5296 5296
accruals note 24 1967 1967 2430 2430
bank overdraft note 23 –– 187 4 187 4
30193 30193 44861 44861
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
other loans represent interestfree loans advanced from the hblb the balance outstanding on these loans at 31 december 2010 
was £3200000 31 december 2009 £4820000
arena leisure plc 65 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
26 financial instruments continued
fair value hierarchy
the table below analyses nancial instruments carried at fair value by valuation method the different levels have been de ned 
as follows
 level 1 quoted prices unadjusted in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
 level 2 inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability either directly 
ie as prices or indirectly ie derived from prices
 level 3 inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market data unobservable inputs
at 31 december 2010
level 1  
£’000
level 2 
 £’000
level 3 
 £’000
total 
 liabilities  
£’000
derivatives – interest rate hedging agreements note 22 – 1328 – 1328
at 31 december 2009
level 1  
£’000
level 2  
£’000
level 3  
£’000
total  
liabilities 
 £’000
derivatives – interest rate hedging agreements – 1454 – 1454
the basis for determining fair values is disclosed in note 4 the fair value of the interest rate hedging agreement was 
determined by an independent bank valuation 
27 deferred tax assets and liabilities
recognised deferred tax assets and liabilities
deferred tax assets and liabilities are attributable to the following
assets  
2010  
£’000
assets  
2009  
£’000
liabilities  
2010 
 £’000
liabilities  
2009  
£’000
net  
2010  
£’000
net  
2009  
£’000
property – – 13308 12715 13308 12715
plant and equipment 1832 1203 – – 1832 1203
short term temporary differences 219 127 – – 219 127
tax losses 11257 11385 – – 11257 11385
13308 12715 13308 12715 – –
the movement in temporary differences during the year is as follows
at  
31 december  
2008  
£’000
recognised  
in pro t  
or loss 
£’000
at  
31 december  
2009 
 £’000
property 12909 194 12715
plant and equipment 566 637 1203
short term temporary differences 135 8 127
tax losses 12208 823 11385
– – –
at  
31 december  
2009  
£’000
recognised  
in pro t 
or loss  
£’000
at  
31 december  
2010 
 £’000
property 12715 593 13308
plant and equipment 1203 629 1832
short term temporary differences 127 92 219
tax losses 11385 128 11257
– – –
66 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
27 deferred tax assets and liabilities continued
unrecognised deferred tax assets
deferred tax assets have not been recognised in respect of the following items
at  
31 december  
2008 
 £’000
movement  
in the year 
 £’000
at  
31 december  
 2009 
 £’000
unrecognised deferred tax assets – tax losses 5437 1095 6532
at 
31 december  
 2009 
 £’000
movement 
 in the year  
£’000
at  
31 december  
2010 
 £’000
unrecognised deferred tax assets – tax losses 6532 411 6121
the group has not provided for the deferred tax assets on the above losses as it is not probable that taxable pro ts in the short 
term will be available against which the group can utilise the associated tax bene ts
the uk government announced a phased reduction in the main uk corporation tax rate from 28 to 24 with the rst 1 
reduction taking effect from 1 april 2011 and substantively enacted on 20 july 1010 deferred tax assets and liabilities are 
measured at the tax rate that is expected to apply to the period when the asset is realised or the liability is settled based on 
the rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date therefore at 31 december 2010 
deferred tax assets and liabilities have been calculated based on a rate of 27 where the temporary difference is expected 
to reverse after 1 april 2011 the effect of the remeasurement has had no impact on the pro t for the year
no account will been taken of the further 3 reduction in tax rates until substantive enactment of these changes however it 
is estimated that this will not have a material impact on the group
28 share capital
2010 2009
number £’000 number £’000
authorised
ordinary shares of 5p each 429353724 21468 429353724 21468
issued and fully paid
ordinary shares of 5p each at beginning and end of 
the year 364202007 18210 364202007 18210
the group has also issued share options and awards note 32
the holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive dividends as declared from time to time and are entitled to one vote per 
share at meetings of the company 
arena leisure plc 67 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
29 reserves
share 
 premium  
account  
£’000
merger  
reserve  
£’000
 retained  
 earnings  
 restated

 
  £’000
 non 
 controlling 
  interest 
 restated

 
 £’000
at 1 january 2009 223 5417 46975 1809
pro tloss for the year – – 4213 92
impact of change in accounting policy

––2–
sharebased payment credit – – 28 –
at 31 december 2009 223 5417 51162 1717
pro tloss for the year – – 3731 108
dividends paid – – 1384
sharebased payment expense – – 320 –
at 31 december 2010 223 5417 53829 1609
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
the following describes the nature and purpose of each reserve within shareholders’ equity
reserve description and purpose
share premium amount subscribed for share capital in excess of nominal value
merger reserve the merger reserve arose due to the availability of merger relief in connection 
with the acquisitions of ram racing leisure ltd wolverhampton and southwell 
racecourses and royal windsor racecourse partly paid by a share for share 
exchange and represents the difference between the fair value of the consideration 
given for the shares issued and the nominal value of those instruments
retained earnings cumulative net gains and losses attributable to the equity shareholders of the 
parent company recognised in the consolidated income statement
noncontrolling interest cumulative net gains and losses attributable to doncaster metropolitan borough 
council in respect of their noncontrolling interest in the doncaster racecourse 
management company ltd
30 operating leases
noncancellable operating lease rentals are payable as follows
2010 
 £’000
 2009 
 restated

 
 £’000
less than one year 19 33
between one and ve years 353 55
more than ve years – –
372 88
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets see notes 2 and 15 for further information
the payments under operating leases recognised as an expense in the year total £98000 2009 £79000

the group operates a de ned contribution pension scheme pension costs for the de ned contribution scheme in 2010 were 
£170000 2009 £175000 there were £19000 of unpaid contributions outstanding at the year end 2009 £18000
68 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
32 sharebased payment
the company operates a longterm incentive scheme and two share option schemes for employees an hm revenue  customs 
approved share option scheme and an unapproved discretionary share option scheme final grants were made under the share 
option schemes in 2006
share option schemes
performance criteria based upon the future market price of the company’s shares or growth in adjusted earnings per share are 
attached to each grant of options which must be met prior to exercise in normal circumstances employees will forfeit rights 
over share options six months after leaving the company’s employment although directors have discretionary power to extend 
this to one year following cessation of employment or three and a half years from the date of grant
2010 2009
weighted 
average 
exercise price number
weighted 
average 
exercise price number
outstanding at beginning of year 5066p 4581873 4871p 5551546
lapsed during the year 6200p 100000 3950p 912711
forfeited during the year 10500p 17500 ––
forfeited during the year 3950p 161630 3950p 56962
outstanding at the end of the year 5060p 43027 43 5066p 4581873
the exercise price of options outstanding at the end of the year ranged between 395p and 105p 2009 395p and 105p 
and their remaining weighted average contractual life was 466 years 2009 557 years these shares have been subdivided 
as follows
2010 2009
remaining 
contractual life number
remaining 
contractual life number
option price – 3950p 580 years 2592743 680 years 2754373
option price – 4075p 475 years 1000000 575 years 1000000
option price – 6200p –– 008 years 100000
option price – 1050p 040 years 710000 140 years 727500
total 466 years 4302743 557 years 4581873
of the total number of options outstanding at the end of the year 3592743 2009 3854373 had vested and were 
exercisable at the end of the year there were no options exercised in 2010 2009 none 
the following information is relevant in the determination of the fair value of options granted under the equitysettled share
based remuneration schemes operated by the group 
2006
equitysettled
option pricing model used blackscholes
share price at grant date 3950p
exercise price 3950p
estimated period to exercise of options 5 years
expected volatility 16
riskfree interest rate 475
the nal grants under the share option schemes were in october 2006 the weighted average fair value of each option granted 
in 2006 was 917p the valuation performed at the grant date used a volatility assumption based on statistical analysis of daily 
share prices over a period of 90 days a period of 90 days was deemed by the board to be a more appropriate basis for analysis 
than a threeyear period owing to the distorting effect of the group’s former technologybased subsidiary and the original 
attheraces business model the average share price over the threeyear period to 31 december 2006 was therefore not 
representative of the group’s business model going forward
arena leisure plc 69 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
32 sharebased payment continued
longterm incentive scheme
in april 2007 shareholder approval was obtained for a longterm incentive plan ‘ltip’ the ltip provides for annual conditional 
awards of shares to be made subject to performance criteria the rst awards under the scheme were made in 2007 and are 
subject to absolute adjusted eps growth targets over a threeyear period further awards were made in 2009 and 2010 and 
are subject to relative adjusted eps growth targets over a threeyear period see page 35 of the remuneration report for the 
speci c criteria attached to the awards in certain circumstances of cessation of employment eg death injury or disability 
retirement redundancy employment being with a company which ceases to be a group member or for other reasons as the 
remuneration committee so decides an employee will be considered a good leaver and the shares will vest on either the 
date of departure or the normal vesting date subject in both circumstances to a prorata reduction for the time served such 
reduction can be waived at the discretion of the remuneration committee in any other circumstance the awards will lapse 
immediately upon the employee leaving the company’s employment
2010 2009
weighted 
average grant 
price number
weighted 
average grant 
price number
outstanding at beginning of year 3250p 5447127 5448p 3065786
awarded during the year 3495p 2944942 2655p 3642018
lapsed or forfeited during the year 4305p 1964527 6875p 1260677
outstanding at the end of the year 3040p 6427542 3250p 5447127
of the total number of ltip shares outstanding at the end of the year none had vested at the end of the year 2009 none
the weighted average fair value of each share awarded during the year was 3495p 2009 2655p
the volatility assumption is based on management’s assessment of the amount of shares that will vest
the sharebased remuneration expense note 8 comprises
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
equitysettled schemes
share options granted in 2005 – 37
share options granted in 2006 – 137
ltip shares awarded in 2007 – 58
ltip shares awarded in 2008 – 170
ltip shares awarded in 2009 199 26
ltip shares awarded in 2010 121 –
320 28
at 31 december 2010 the directors reviewed the probability of the ltip scheme criteria being met at the vesting dates and 
a reduction in the cumulative expense in relation to the 2009 ltip shares has been made to re ect current expectations
the cumulative entries in respect of the share options granted in 2005 and 2006 and the ltip shares awarded in 2007 and 
2008 re ect the actual numbers of instruments which vested
70 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
33 related party transactions
details of directors’ and key management remuneration are given in the remuneration report on pages 31 to 36 and note 9
mark elliott and ian renton are directors of the group’s joint venture atr ian renton was a director of the british horseracing 
authority racing’s governing and regulatory body until his term expired in july 2010 mark elliott is a director of the racecourse 
association the trade association of the uk’s racecourses 
transactions with these related parties are as follows
transaction amount
balance due tofrom  
arena
related party type of transaction
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
racecourse association annual membership fee and related costs 153 181 4 41
admissions and conference facilities 12 36 3 9
british horseracing authority programme announcements and  
racing calendar adverts –
 
238 – –
sponsorship admissions ian renton 
directorship 29
 
– 4 –
at the races contribution to picture provision 2622 1717 373 242
interest receivable on loans 69 89 – –
loans note 19 515 300 4308 4754
the group has not made any provision for bad or doubtful debts in respect of relatedparty debtors nor has any guarantee been 
given or received during 2010 or 2009 regarding related party transactions 
all transactions with these related parties have been undertaken on a commercial arm’slength basis
34 capital commitments
at 31 december 2010 the group remained committed to purchase property plant and equipment totalling £282000 
2009 £409000 of which £nil 2009 £nil is as a result of the group’s investment in at the races
arena’s share of the capital commitments of at the races amounted to £nil 2009 £nil 
35 contingent liabilities
wolverhampton racecourse has guaranteed an amount of 50000 2009 50000 to the bene t of holiday inns 
incorporated in relation to the hotel franchise
arena leisure plc as part of its shareholders’ agreement has a commitment to fund atr by way of loans up to an amount not 
exceeding £5000000 of which £4308000 has been provided by way of loans at 31 december 2010 2009 £4754000
arena’s share of the contingent liabilities of at the races amounted to £nil 2009 £nil
36 events after the reporting date
on 10 february 2011 arena was awarded the contract to provide catering services at both the eton dorney and the greenwich 
park venues as part of the olympic and paralympic games in 2012 the contract contains elements of both xed income and 
variable income that is dependent upon the numbers of attendees and spend per head the board currently estimates that 
arena’s 2012 net pro t contribution from the contract will be in the range of £05m to £10m
arena leisure plc 71 
annual report and accounts 2010 company balance sheet – uk gaap financial statements
at 31 december 2010
note
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000
fixed assets
intangible assets 4 476 439
tangible assets 3 85 99
investments 5 76110 76054
76671 76592
current assets
debtors
– due within one year 7 7201 349
– due in more than one year 7 178286 140376
185487 140725
cash at bank and in hand 286 –
185773 140725
creditors amounts falling due within one year 8 15020 15838
net current assets 170753 124887
total assets less current liabilities 247424 201479
creditors amounts falling due after one year 8 61158 18000
net assets 186266 183479
called up share capital 9 18210 18210
share premium 10 223 223
other reserve 10 80 24
merger reserve 10 5417 5417
pro t and loss account 10 162336 159605
shareholders’ funds 186266 183479
company number 857819
the notes on pages 73 to 78 form part of these nancial statements 
these nancial statements were approved by the board of directors on 7 march 2011 and signed on its behalf by
mark elliott tony harris
chief executive finance director
72 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
notes forming part of the uk gaap financial statements 
for the year ended 31 december 2010
1 accounting policies
the nancial statements of the company have been 
prepared under uk gaap using the historical cost convention 
and are in accordance with applicable accounting standards 
and the companies act 2006
the following principal accounting policies have been 
applied on a basis consistent with the international financial 
reporting standards ‘ifrs’ nancial statements and are 
explained in note 3 to the ifrs nancial statements
 depreciation
 dividends and
 pension costs
the following accounting policies differ from the ifrs 
accounting policies 
financial assets and liabilities
all nancial assets and liabilities are accounted for 
consistently with the ifrs nancial statements with the 
exception of investments in subsidiaries which are held 
at cost less provisions for impairment 
investments in joint ventures
investments in joint ventures are stated at cost less 
provisions for impairment
deferred tax
deferred tax assets and liabilities arise from timing 
differences between the recognition of gains and losses 
in the nancial statements and their recognition in a tax 
computation in accordance with frs 19 deferred tax 
is provided in respect of all timing differences that have 
originated but not reversed at the balance sheet date that 
may give rise to an obligation to pay more or less tax in the 
future the recognition of deferred tax assets is limited to 
the extent that the company anticipates making suf cient 
taxable pro ts in the future to absorb the reversal of 
underlying timing differences deferred tax is measured 
on a nondiscounted basis
sharebased payment
where share options are awarded to employees the fair value 
of options granted is recognised as an employee expense with 
a corresponding increase in equity the fair value is measured 
at grant date and spread over the period during which the 
employees become unconditionally entitled to the options the 
fair value of the options granted is measured using an option 
pricing model taking into account the terms and conditions 
upon which the options were granted the amount recognised 
as an expense is adjusted to re ect the actual number of 
share options that vest except where forfeiture is only due 
to share prices not achieving the threshold for vesting
where the company grants options over its own shares to 
the employees of its subsidiaries it recognises an increase 
in the cost of investment in its subsidiaries equivalent to the 
equitysettled sharebased payment charge recognised in 
its subsidiary’s nancial statements with the corresponding 
credit being recognised directly in equity 
financial guarantees
where the company enters into nancial guarantee contracts 
and guarantees the indebtedness of other companies within 
the group the company considers these to be insurance 
arrangements and accounts for them as such in this 
respect the company treats the guarantee contract as a 
contingent liability until such time that it becomes probable 
that the company will be required to make a payment under 
the guarantee

the company is exempt from the requirement to prepare a cash 
 ow statement on the grounds that the company is included in 
its own published consolidated nancial statements
2 result for the period
the company has taken advantage of the exemption 
allowed under section 408 of the companies act 2006 
and has not presented its own pro t and loss account in 
these nancial statements
pro t after tax for the company was £3851000 for the 
period 2009 £1042000
arena leisure plc 73 
annual report and accounts 2010 fixtures 
 ttings and 
vehicles 
£’000
cost
at 1 january 2010 211
additions 6
disposals 1
at 31 december 2010 216
depreciation
at 1 january 2010 112
charged in the year 19
at 31 december 2010 131
net book value at 31 december 2010 85
net book value at 31 december 2009 99

£’000
at 1 january 2010 439
additions 37
at 31 december 2010 476
additions to intangible assets represent costs incurred during the year in relation to the new media rights agreement as 
detailed in note 17 to the ifrs nancial statements the costs will be amortised on a straightline basis over the veyear 
term of the agreement which commences on 1 january 2012
5 investments
joint venture 
£’000
subsidiaries 
£’000
total  
£’000
cost at 1 january 2010 2231 7 4621 76852
capital contribution –5656
cost at 31 december 2010 2231 7 4677 76908
provisions at 1 january and 31 december 2010 – 798 798
net book value at 31 december 2010 2231 73879 76110
net book value at 1 january 2010 2231 73823 76054
the principal investments of arena leisure plc are detailed in note 18 to the ifrs nancial statements 
disclosure in respect of the company’s funding obligation to at the races is detailed in note 19 to the ifrs nancial statements
the capital contribution recognised in the year relates to grants of ltip conditional shares made in november 2009 and 
august 2010 to employees of subsidiary companies note 9
74 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
6 staff numbers and costs
the average number of persons employed by the company including directors during the period was as follows
2010 2009
racing – management and operations 1 1
head of ce – management and administration 9 10
10 11
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
staff costs including directors
wages and salaries 1391 1388
de ned contribution pension cost 76 76
employer’s national insurance and similar taxes 164 170
sharebased payment expense 264 –
1895 1634
there were £9000 of unpaid pension contributions outstanding at the year end 2009 £9000
7 debtors
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000

trade debtors 7039 38
other debtors 61 127
prepayments and accrued income 101 184
7201 349
amounts due after one year
amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings 173978 135622
loans to joint venture 4308 4754
178286 140376
interest is charged on amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings at libor plus a 20 to 35 margin interest is charged on 
loans to joint venture at libor plus a 10 margin
arena leisure plc 75 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the uk gaap financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
8 creditors
2010 
 £’000
2009  
£’000

bank overdraft – 2625
bank loans secured 9829 11500
trade creditors 614 709
amounts due to subsidiary undertakings 3948 21
other taxation and social security 136 187
other creditors 9 156
accruals and deferred income 484 640
15020 15838
amounts due after one year
deferred income 32000 12500
bank loans secured 29158 5500
61158 18000
the bank loans are secured by a xed and oating charge on the assets and undertakings of group companies and a rst legal 
charge on all freehold and leasehold properties owned by the group this security is subject to deeds of priority and permitted 
charges in favour of the hblb in respect of security for interestfree loans provided to the group with the exception of southwell 
racecourse which until 31 december 2011 is subject to deeds of priority and permitted charges in favour of sis in respect of 
security for the advanced payments relating to the new media rights agreement commencing on 1 january 2012
bank loan terms of repayment and interest rates applicable are disclosed in note 25 to the ifrs nancial statements
included within deferred income is a £12500000 advanced payment received from sis in july 2009 upon signing a new 
agreement for the provision of horse racing content from arena’s racecourses into lbos in the united kingdom and ireland 
and two other amounts relating to the same agreement a further £12500000 advanced payment received from sis in july 
2010 under the terms of the same agreement and £7000000 due for payment in july 2011 which has been invoiced and 
is included within trade debtors the income deferred will be recognised in pro t or loss on a straightline basis over the 
 veyear term of the agreement which commences on 1 january 2012 and is classed as due after one year
9 called up share capital
2010 
 £’000
2009 
 £’000
authorised
429353724 ordinary shares of 5p each 2009 429353724 21468 21468
allotted called up and fully paid
364202007 ordinary shares of 5p each 2009 364202007 18210 18210
76 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 financial statements
9 called up share capital continued
total share options in issue at 31 december 2010 were as follows
number of 
ordinary 
shares
exercise  
price period exercisable
i under the share option plan 230355 10500p 25 may 2004 – 24 may 2011
73619 4075p 3 october 2008 – 2 october 2015
307096 3950p 3 october 2009 – 2 october 2016
17500 10500p forfeited in the period
57046 3950p forfeited in the period
536524 
ii under the discretionary share option scheme 100000 6200p 25 january 2003 – 24 january 2010
497145 10500p 25 may 2004 – 24 may 2011
926381 4075p 3 october 2008 – 2 october 2015
2447277 3950p 3 october 2009 – 2 october 2016
100000 6200p lapsed in the period
104584 3950p forfeited in the period
3766219 
total 43027 43 
total shares awarded through the ltip as at 31 december 2010 were as follows
number of 
ordinary shares
grant  
price vesting date
under the ltip 1466126 4525p 10 april 2011
 338983 4130p 8 may 2011
3642018 2655p 2013 – see below
2944942 3495p 2013 – see below
1466126 4525p lapsed in the period
338983 4130p lapsed in the period
159418 2655p forfeited in the period
total 6427542 
on 9 august 2010 the company granted 2944942 conditional shares through the ltip scheme to directors and certain 
employees of the company and its subsidiaries vesting of the shares will take place following the issue of the annual results 
for the year to 31 december 2012 subject to the group achieving adjusted earnings per share ‘eps’ growth of retail price 
index ‘rpi’90 over the performance period which ends on 31 december 2012 using 2009 as the base year the vesting 
percentage reduces to 50 if eps growth is rpi60 and 0 if eps growth is less than rpi30 straightline vesting occurs 
between 0 and 50 and between 50 and 100
on 20 november 2009 the company granted 3642018 conditional shares through the ltip scheme to directors and certain 
employees of the company and its subsidiaries vesting of the shares will take place following the issue of the annual results 
for the year to 31 december 2012 subject to the group achieving adjusted eps growth of rpi40 over the performance 
period which ends on 31 december 2012 using 2008 as the base year the vesting percentage reduces to 25 if eps 
growth is rpi16 with straightline vesting occurring between 25 and 100 and the percentage reduces to 0 if eps 
growth is less than rpi16
the ltip awards granted on 10 april 2008 and 8 may 2008 which were due to vest on 10 april 2011 and 8 may 2011 
respectively have lapsed due to the performance criteria not having being met
details of directors’ share options and ltip share awards included above are disclosed in the remuneration report on pages 
31 to 36
arena leisure plc 77 
annual report and accounts 2010 notes forming part of the uk gaap financial statements continued
for the year ended 31 december 2010
10 reserves
share 
premium 
account 
£’000
other  
reserve 
£’000
merger 
reserve 
£’000
pro t and 
loss account 
£’000
at 1 january 2009 223 35 5417 158563
pro t for the year – – – 1042
sharebased payment credit – 11 – –
at 31 december 2009 223 24 5417 159605
share 
premium 
account 
£’000
other  
reserve 
£’000
merger 
reserve 
£’000
pro t and 
loss account 
£’000
at 1 january 2010 223 24 5417 159605
pro t for the year – – – 3851
dividends paid – – – 1384
sharebased payment expense – 56 – 264
at 31 december 2010 223 80 5417 162336
the other reserve has arisen in respect of the sharebased payment expense attributable to employees of subsidiaries 
descriptions of the other reserves are included in note 29 to the ifrs nancial statements
details of the dividend proposed in relation to 2010 has been disclosed in note 14 to the ifrs nancial statements
11 reconciliation of movement in shareholders’ funds
2009 
 £’000
pro t for the year 1042
sharebased payment credit 11
opening shareholders’ funds 182448
closing shareholders’ funds 183479
2010  
£’000
pro t for the year 3851
dividends note 14 – ifrs nancial statements 1384
sharebased payment expense 320
opening shareholders’ funds 183479
closing shareholders’ funds 186266
12 sharebased payment
the company operates a longterm incentive scheme and two share option schemes for employees an hm revenue  
customs approved share option scheme and an unapproved discretionary share option scheme details are disclosed 
in note 32 to the ifrs nancial statements
13 capital commitments contingent liabilities and subsequent events
disclosure in respect of capital commitments contingent liabilities and events subsequent to the balance sheet date are 
given in notes 34 35 and 36 to the ifrs nancial statements respectively
14 related party transactions
disclosure in respect of related party transactions is given in note 33 to the ifrs nancial statements
the doncaster racecourse management company ltd ‘drmc’ and worcester racecourse ltd ‘worcester’ are 81 
subsidiaries of the company during the year the company charged drmc £997000 2009 £482000 and worcester 
£298000 2009 £138000 in relation to management services and group interest the balances due to the company 
at 31 december 2010 were £26257000 in respect of drmc 2009 £7658000 and £5073000 2009 £1096000 
in respect of worcester
 
78 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 shareholder information
 
year to  
31 december  
2010  
£’000
year to
31 december
2009 
restated
£’000
year to 
31 december  
 2008  
£’000
year to 
31 december  
2007  
£’000
year to  
31 december  
2006 
 £’000
revenue

63983 65239 64825 57920 45259
pro t from operations

4062 4389 5467 5897 6195
tangible xed assets 140685 135646 119734 108283 86054
net assets 79288 76729 72644 70411 64272
adjusted as follows
2006 – excludes release of unclaimed share proceeds on purchase of subsidiary undertaking
2007 – excludes impairment loss in respect of royal windsor racecourse
2008 – excludes gains on sale of assets
2009 – excludes gains on sale of assets
2010 – no adjustments
 relates to a change in the accounting policy for leased assets
five year record
number of shareholders 6960 as at 4 march 2011
shareholders  

shares  

1000 and under 610 03
1001 to 5000 257 12
5001 to 10000 60 09
10001 to 100000 58 36
over 100000 15 940
1000 1000
held by
banks 01 39
nominee companies 52 481
other corporate bodies 09 430
individuals 938 50
1000 1000
analysis of shareholders
shareholder information
arena leisure plc 79 
annual report and accounts 2010 408 strand 
london wc2r 0ne 
telephone 44 020 7632 2080 
facsimile 44 020 7240 8032 
contactarenaleisureplccom 
wwwarenaleisureplccom
company secretary
robert mercer fcma
registered number
857819
company information
auditors
kpmg audit plc 
15 canada square 
london e14 5gl
solicitors
kl gates llp 
110 cannon street 
london ec4n 6ar
principal bankers
lloyds banking group plc 
25 gresham street 
london ec2v 7hn
stockbrokers
altium capital limited 
30 st james’s square 
london sw1y 4al
financial advisors
investec bank uk limited 
2 gresham street 
london ec2v 7qp

capita registrars 
the registry 
34 beckenham road 
beckenham 
kent br3 4tu
80 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010 designed and produced by merchant 
wwwmerchantcouk
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this report has been printed on cocoon silk 100 an fsc recycled  
certi ed product which is produced using 100 postconsumer waste  
at a mill that has achieved iso 9001 iso 14001 and napm the pulp 
is bleached using a chlorine free process pcf
cert no sgscoc2524 arena leisure plc
408 strand 
london wc2r 0ne 
telephone 440 20 7632 2080 
facsimile 440 20 7240 8032
wwwarenaleisureplccom


Summary:
 06 arena leisure plc
annual report and accounts 2010
building operational excellence
in 2010 we continued to make 
good progress in all areas of 
our strategy whilst maintaining 
our focus on racing operations 
and further expanding our other 
income sources
operating overview
operating results for the year ended 31 december 2010  
were encouraging in an environment that was heavily 
in uenced by external factors including the continued 
challenging economic conditions the pressures on funding 
caused by the reduced levy yield from bookmakers and the 
extreme weather conditions in both the early and later parts 
of the year despite these challenges we have been able to 
increase underlying adjusted pro t before interest and tax  
by 104 to £54m 2009 £49m in so doing we have 
increased the pro t contribution from racecourse operations 
by 38 to £72m 2009 £70m atr has shown excellent 
growth and contributed £14m to arena through our 4585 
equity share 2009 £05m
we have been able to improve average attendances 
hospitality revenues and catering pro ts in 2010 the 
raceday experience that we offer continues to evolve with our 
highquality catering offering proving an ever more important 
element in differentiating our raceday customer experience 
themed racedays whether the more traditional ‘ladies day’  
or newer ‘racing and music’ nights ‘family fundays’ or  
other speci c events have proved increasingly popular  
these events not only provide a broader appeal for the 
racegoer but also allow us to target our marketing activities 
in a consumerspeci c way we have further plans for 2011 
to build on this success with additional themed days and an 
evolution of our marketing approach including online through 
our website and social media channels as well as with 
greater customer relationship management
arena’s racing operations are recognised for their quality 
and for the professionalism and dedication of our racing 
staff these strengths combined with the exibility of our 
three allweather racecourses enabled the group to stage 
352 xtures in the year across our seven racecourses 
including during periods of severe adverse weather during 
december 2010 48 of scheduled uk racing was lost to 
the weather conditions however arena staged the expected 
number of xtures with six abandonments being replaced with 
six extra xtures at short notice in total we lost 18 xtures 
in the year 2009 eight and staged 14 extra xtures at short 
notice 2009 four the net impact of december’s weather 
conditions on arena’s pro t was a £03m reduction as a result 
of a 14000 fall in total attendance compared to the prior year 
and a number of cancelled nonracing meetings and events
our inhouse catering operation is fully integrated into each 
racecourse allowing us to utilise synergies across each site 
and align revenue generation on a groupwide basis we are 
able to leverage expertise through shared resources and 
purchasing power through national supplier contracts quality 
of product and service one of the key drivers of our inhouse 
strategy has continued to improve from an already high level 
on 10 february 2011 we announced that arena had 
successfully tendered to the london organising committee  
of the olympic games and paralympic games ‘locog’ and 
had been awarded the contract to provide catering services at 
both the eton dorney and the greenwich park venues as part 
of the olympic and paralympic games in 2012 eton dorney 
will be home to the sprint canoeing and rowing events and 
greenwich park will be home to the equestrian and modern 
pentathlon events the contract contains elements of both 
 xed income and variable income that is dependent upon the 
numbers of attendees and spend per head and the board 
chief executive’s statement
mark elliott
chief executive
2010 highlights
  352 xtures staged representing 25  
of uk racing
 average attendance increased by 42
  hospitality attendance increased by 171
  ling eld park marriott hotel and country 
club opened in may 2010
  masterplan proposal for the redevelopment 
of folkestone racecourse submitted
  atr pro t contribution increased by 163
  adjusted to exclude gains on the disposal of assets  
2010 £nil 2009 £04m
  before the impact of preopening costs of the ling eld park marriott 
hotel development of £05m 2009 £02m overview
arena leisure plc 07 
annual report and accounts 2010
refurbishment of the weighing room and jockeys’ facilities 
this rst phase project is expected to cost £10m and 
complete in time for the 2011 racing season
industry funding
reductions in funding from the levy are having a major impact 
on racecourses and all participants in the racing industry the 
yield from the levy on bookmakers has fallen from £754m 
in 200910 to an estimated £648m in 201011 with a 
consequent impact on the funds distributed to racing arena 
suffered a reduction in funding for 2010 which had a £03m 
pro t impact through reduced direct incentive payments and 
prize money contributions which were then supplemented 
by arena as previously announced the impact on 2011 is 
more signi cant with further reductions to xture incentive 
payments of £08m and reductions in payments to support 
operational running costs of £07m both of which will directly 
impact pro t the levy board has also taken the unusual step 
of making certain xtures available with either no or partial 
funding for prize money arena has secured 48 partially funded 
 xtures and 36 xtures with no funding for prize money which 
whilst each of these will still be pro table and are important in 
maintaining our xture list will be consequently less pro table 
than fully funded xtures
the racing industry and bookmakers failed to reach agreement 
on the form of the levy scheme for 201112 and so it was 
referred to government for ‘determination’ on 16 february 
2011 a statement from the minister responsible set out the 
new terms these are estimated to deliver a yield of £737m 
to £808m which would be above the level of the current 
2011 budgeted levy expenditure of £600m our expectation 
is that this uplift will predominantly bene t prize money which 
will assist in improving race programmes andor levy board 
reserves and will therefore have minimal shortterm impact 
on racecourse pro tability over the medium term it will help 
to protect growth maintenance of the levy in a revised form 
is considered important by the arena board and in the medium 
term we will seek a solution that addresses offshore operators 
and betting exchanges and their customers that have so far 
not been addressed by the current ‘determination’
outlook
despite a challenging trading environment arena’s core 
business moved forward successfully in 2010 improved 
average racecourse attendances together with good 
development of atr’s international media rights business 
have helped to mitigate the continuing pressure on hospitality 
spend and the impact of reduced industry funding the 
review of operations on page 19 provides further details 
arena remains well placed with its increasingly diversi ed 
income streams notably through inhouse catering atr 
media distribution and the ling eld park marriott hotel 
however due to the signi cant reduction in levy yield we 
expect another challenging year and on that basis we do 
not anticipate material overall growth in 2011 trading in 
the current year to date is in line with these expectations 
with the signi cant successes achieved over the last few 
years the prospects for 2012 are signi cantly brighter
mark elliott 
chief executive 
7 march 2011
currently estimates that arena’s 2012 net pro t contribution 
from the contract will be in the range of £05m to £10m
media rights
arena licenses the right to use the media content of racing 
from its racecourses through two main channels to lbos 
in the uk and ireland and internationally online and via 
nonterrestrial tv through atr revenue from these rights 
amounted to £136m 2009 £130m and represents 213 
of total revenue 2009 199 
the group has secured 353 scheduled xtures for 2011  
and we have a reasonable expectation that we will be able 
to secure a similar xture list for 2012 and beyond each 
of these xtures will generate income from the lbo market 
which from 1 january 2012 will arise pursuant to a new 
 veyear contract with sis the board has estimated that this 
new contract will have a total value of £1060m over its term 
which compares to the current veyear contract that will have 
delivered an estimated £556m of income to arena between 
2007 and 2011 advanced payments of £125m were 
received by arena on both 22 july 2009 and 22 july 2010  
a third payment of £70m is due on 22 july 2011 the balance 
of the estimated revenue is due over the veyear term and 
is linked to the number of races run at arena’s racecourses
real estate development
arena has been successful in achieving planning permissions 
and executing developments that both enhance racecourse 
assets and create value from surplus land during 2010 the 
most recent of these developments was completed and the 
ling eld park marriott hotel and country club opened in may 
after a £300m investment
arena is also pursuing development projects at four  
other racecourses 
  in october 2010 arena submitted its masterplan for 
the redevelopment of folkestone racecourse as part of 
sdc’s process for drawing up its new local development 
framework the proposal safeguards the future of the 
racecourse via a complete rebuild funded by the 
introduction of approximately 800 residential units sdc 
is likely to report in the middle of 2011 after which there 
will be an examinationinpublic which is likely to conclude 
in spring 2012
  wolverhampton racecourse has planning consent for a 
combined hotel and casino development that extends the 
existing hotel from 54 to 170 bedrooms this project is 
dependent upon the grant of a small casino licence from 
wolverhampton city council it is anticipated that tender 
applications will be invited for this licence in august 2011 
with the nal award expected in summer 2012 we will 
participate in the tender and our belief is that the mixeduse 
scheme of casino racecourse and an extension to the 
existing hotel will provide a compelling proposition
  doncaster racecourse has planning consent for a 
120bedroom hotel and 34 residential units this consent 
was recently extended until mid2013 the board remains 
con dent of the commercial viability of this scheme and 
of its complementary nature to the existing facilities and
  at royal windsor racecourse the rst part of a medium
term redevelopment programme was commenced with the 
construction of a new entrance building housing of ces 
and a food outlet there will also be an expansion and 
chief executive’s statement