The US-based gaming group, Wembley – whose shares fell from 851p to 541.5p yesterday after BLB Investors decided against extending its offer for the group – has said that trading is in line with expectations in an update issued today.

Wembley also announced that, while a definitive date for the trial has yet to be decided, it anticipates the Lincoln Park trial –in which the division and two Wembley executives will face a bribery lawsuit – will commence in the second half of September 2004. The group maintains that the allegations are “without foundation” and that they will be “vigorously defended” at the trial.

In terms of Wembley’s US gaming division and trading figures, the group stated that both Lincoln Park and its Colorado businesses delivered “a strong underlying performance” in the first half of the year.

The weekly revenue from Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) alone averaged $5.77m in the first half of 2004, which was up 14.5 per cent on the same period in 2003. This is seen as the key performance indicator of the Lincoln Park business and included a new record weekly VLT drop of £6.54m in the week ending 5 June 2004.

Meanwhile, following a difficult year in 2003, Wembley’s UK gaming business has returned to “more acceptable levels”, with results broadly up 40 per cent on the same period of 2003.

The group attributes this to the decision to sell the Catford race track for £7.5m and to revert back to three race nights per week at its Wimbledon site.

Chair and chief executive, Claes Hultman, said: “Wembley is a well run, profitable and highly cash-generative business with a strong balance sheet. The fact that Wembley attracted so much interest in its assets prior to BLB’s bid serves to emphasise this point. The board remains committed to maximising value for Wembley shareholders.”