New Zealand’s SkyCity Entertainment Group has announced a NZ$125 million (US$90 million) retail bond offer, with the option of another NZ$50 million (US$36 million) oversubscription, as it looks to bolster liquidity due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,
The bond offer, announced Friday morning, would comprise 6-year unsecured, unsubordinated fixed rate bonds due 21 May 2027 and available to New Zealand institutional investors and retail investors. SkyCity said it expects the bonds to be assigned a “BBB-” rating by S&P Global ratings.
Announcement of the bonds accompanied a market update with SkyCity pointing to “resilient performance” of its flagship property, SkyCity Auckland, when open, primarily via its electronic gaming machine segment.
It also described the performance of SkyCity Adelaide as consistent through March and April and in line with the property’s performance in December and February following the launch of an AU$330 million revamp late last year.
While SkyCity did not provide any numbers around the performance of its properties, it did note the continued growth of its online gaming business, SkyCity Online Casino, which has seen the number of active customers increase from 24,400 in mid-February to 38,000 as of 30 April 2021.
“Despite positive current trading, there is no change to the previous guidance for FY21 SkyCity expecting Group normalized EBITDA to be above FY20 but still well below pre-COVID-19 levels and FY19 levels,” the company said.
“The operating environment remains unpredictable due to COVID-19 and accordingly SkyCity is unable to provide formal earnings guidance at this time.”
SkyCity previously reported a 76.1% year-on-year decline in net profit to NZ$78.4 million (US$56.4 million) for the six months to 31 December 2020, with group-wide revenues down 37.7% to NZ$449.9 million (US$323.8 million).
