The Star releases FY23 results after ‘challenging’ year

The Star has released its end of year results for the financial 12-month period ending June 30, 2023.

The company announced normalised EBITDA of AU$317m, slightly above guidance range, and a normalised net profit of $41m.

It also showed a statutory net loss of $2.44bn, including significant items of $2.48bn net of tax).

The proposed NSW casino duty rate uncertainty has now been resolved with the new arrangements expected to have an impact of around $10m in FY24.

“To say it has been a challenging year completely understates the lived experience at The Star over the last 12 months,” said Group CEO and managing director, Robbie Cooke.

“The consequences flowing from the damage to our social licence are felt daily by team members on multiple levels, reinforcing the critical need to understand the privilege and responsibility that comes with holding a casino licence.

“The ancillary challenges that have arisen in the year, and there are many, all follow from the breaches of trust identified in the Bell and Gotterson reports.

“As a team we are determined to earn back the trust and confidence of our community including our regulators, governments, shareholders, employees and guests. We fully understand the responsibility involved in holding our licences and are committed to transforming our leadership and culture. This journey has started and we know there is still a lot to be done.

“Remediation is our number one priority. We have commenced the uplift in our risk management, safer gambling and AML capability and are starting to embed greater accountability and more robust governance. We have invested in enhancing our control environments and are operationalising and embedding these controls.

“We are improving our financial crime management and our overall approach to harm minimisation. Our remediation program will track and hold us accountable to the multi-year program we are committed to delivering.

“In terms of trading performance our statutory EBITDA for FY23 was $317m, up 34 per cent on the prior year, and slightly above the top end of the previously announced guidance range. Our statutory net loss was $2.4bn.

“The resolution of the NSW casino duty proposed increase has removed significant uncertainty in relation to FY24 and beyond for our Sydney operation and has protected the jobs of thousands of NSW team members.”

Today NSW Parliament website put up the report of the NSW Gaming Minister titled “Report on the implementation of recommendations from the Independent Review of The Star Pty Ltd by Adam Bell SC under section 170A of the Casino Control Act 1992.”

The report lays out the gaming minister’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the Bell Report, noting that 22 of the 30 recommendations are now in place.

The Star continues to work with the relevant authorities in this matter.