Crown Resorts Ltd., the casino operator controlled by billionaire James Packer, said it’s pursuing regulatory approvals to hive off some of the company’s global investments as the gambling downturn in Macau dents earnings.
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On Wednesday, Crown Resorts’ actual EBITDA for its Australian resorts – Crown Melbourne and also Crown Perth (pictured) – stood at AUD949.2 million, up 0.2 percent from the previous fiscal year.
But underlying earnings – which exclude one-off items – declined 22.7 per cent to A$406.2 million despite solid gaming revenue in the Australian casino resorts.
Crown will pay a final dividend of 39.5c per share, up from 19c a year earlier.
However, Crown did make a net gain of $555.2 million from selling the stake in its Macau casino business, Melco Crown.
Main floor gaming revenue in the Australian resorts, which includes casinos in Melbourne and Perth, rose 5.8 per cent to A$1.68 billion, while non-gaming revenue edged up 1.5 per cent to A$674.6 million.
Crown in June said it would separate its “high-performing” local assets from its worldwide businesses, particularly the casinos in under-performing Macau.
When it announced the potential spinoff in June, Crown also said it would explore an initial public offering of 49 percent of a property trust that would hold some of its Australian hotels.
The company is still objecting to the ATO assessment and said the payment was made without admittance to liability.
“The evaluation of any IPO is being progressed independently of the proposed demerger”, the company added.
Crown said work was continuing on the split.
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Crown Resorts plans to open a new casino resort in Sydney’s Barangaroo district. “The capital structure of the ownership entity is yet to be settled”, Crown Resorts said on Wednesday.
