Praesepe CEO Nick Harding said: “The Agora sites are an excellent development opportunity for us. They are mainly in the south of England, geographically complementing our nationwide network of Cashino venues, and occupy some excellent positions in major retail centres.

“Taking management control of the Agora venues reflects our ability to successfully manage high-street venues and to deliver improved returns. There is considerable scope for these sites to generate further economies of scale and we can also expect the anticipated deregulation of Category B3 gaming machines, together with the rollout of our new Bingo Express product, to have a further positive impact on the business and the potential for future revenue growth.

“The management contract provides us with an important opportunity to assess Agora’s operating performance before proceeding to any acquisition,” he added. “We look forward to finalising the option agreement that will give us the opportunity to acquire Agora in the coming months. We believe that a full acquisition would allow us to fully integrate the two businesses and generate value for Praesepe’s shareholders.”

The new contract gives Praesepe an option to buy the Agora estate at some point between 25 May this year and 24 February 2012.

It was sold last year to Baleday by administrator Baker Tilly a year after going into receivership. Agora had been parent of companies including Leisure World UK – previously known as Galaxy Gaming – and Caesar’s World, with an estate including major gaming centres in Lewisham and Aldershot.

That sale covered 99 properties, but 24 of them have closed their doors over the last year, leaving Praesepe with 75 still in operation to manage. “We are evaluating [the 24] with a view to possibly reopening some of them,” a Praesepe spokesperson told Euroslot.

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