Auckland still the jewel in Sky City's crown

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Monday 19th February 2001

Sky City's (NZSE: SKC) flagship Auckland casino is being feted for its role in helping to lift the company's interim profit by almost 20%.

Profit for the six months ended December for the gambling and entertainment company rose to $33.2 million from $27.7 million the year before.

Sky City MD, Evan Davies, has credited the strong result to the positive performance delivered by all sectors of the company and in particular Sky City Auckland.

"A concentrated effort in delivering enhanced product, service and entertainment experience for our customers, right across our business, has seen both visitation and spend at Sky City Auckland increase over the period."

Gaming revenues at Auckland were up 12%, from $117 million to $130 million, reflecting a 2% growth in visitor numbers to 12,650 a day. The average spend per visitor grew by 10% to $64.

The company says Sky Tower remained steady at 1,270 visitors a day while occupancy at Sky City Hotel remained strong, up from 76% last period to 78%, despite the oversupply of hotel rooms in Auckland.

Revenue rose 47% to $211 million, including a first time contribution of $53 million from the company's Adelaide Casino investment.

Mr Davies says the Adelaide Casino's performance was steady with revenues marginally up on the previous half year period and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation holding at A$10.4 million.

However the measure of the value of the Adelaide purchase won't be known for some time because it is currently undergoing a refurbishment programme and will be relaunched in April, along with new gaming offerings and increased promotion.

SKC says due to the timing of the refurbishment and the relaunch the company is not expecting any significant change to Adelaide's financial performance during the current financial year.

The company says it newest casino, Sky Alpine in Queenstown, is performing satisfactorily and although small in terms of the rest of the operations is "an important addition to the group".

Mr Davies says he is confident the company's strong performance will continue for the second half of the year, with further growth in Auckland.

Last week SKC launched a $39 million bid for cinema group Force Corporation, which has operations in New Zealand, Fiji and Argentina.

The company has raised its interim dividend by 4 cents to 28 cents per share.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet