Star Entertainment Sees a Net Loss of US$4.4m in March Quarter Due to Continuing Vacancy of Top Players

Star Entertainment Group has officially revealed its trading update report for the March quarter of the current year, which showed that it recorded a net loss of AU$ 6.8, approximately US$4.4m. The primary reason for this was the continued non-attendance of top players.

Quarterly trading update details:

In the aforementioned trading update report (pdf) officially published on April 12, the firm emphasized that income generated from premium gaming rooms found at The Star Sydney had recorded a notable annual drop of 19.3%. In addition, premium gaming income fell 28% at Treasury Brisbane and 20% at The Star Gold Coast.

Even though there was a small growth in performance on the primary gaming floors, with Treasury Brisbane seeing an improvement of 6.4%, The Star Gold Coast seeing an increase of 4.6% and The Star Sydney seeing an annual increase of 5.4%, total net income was still down 4.6%, totaling AU$419.2, which is approximately US$274m, in contrary to the same quarter of the previous year.

Regarding EBITDA, the firm revealed that normalized EBITDA was AU$37.9m, which is roughly US$24.7. However, the sum of AU$20.2m, which is roughly US$13.2m, accumulated in the first month of the year fell to AU$10.3m, which is roughly US$6.7m, during February, and AU$7.4m, which is approximately US$4.8, during March.

Relatedly, the firm emphasized that the costs related to improving its ability in the divisions of transformation, controls and risk are growing measurably. But these expenses rose from AU$90.3m, or about US$58.9m, monthly in the H1FY to AU$92.1m, or about US $60.1m, monthly, at the start of this current year, according to Asia Gaming Brief.

Moreover, in February, the firm also faced the launch of a 2nd investigation into The Star Sydney’s appropriateness to own a casino license. Additionally, the official start of the said inquiry is slated for April 15.

Star Ent. confirms resignation of CEO Robby Cooke and CFO Christina Katsibouba:

In other news, over the past month, Star Ent.’s chief executive officer, Robby Cooke, stepped down as CEO. The main reason for the decision was that he judged it would likely be difficult for the firm’s leading Pyrmont casino to ever keep the much-desired casino license from the NSW watchdog, as long as he remained the firm’s CEO.

Relatedly, the news was verified on March 22, together with the departure of Christina Katsibouba, the firm’s chief financial officer. However, internal staff verified in a memo that David Foster, the Chair and Non-Executive Director of the firm, will act as CEO until the firm finds a suitable candidate to take on the role permanently.