{"id":10989,"date":"2020-10-18T15:35:19","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T15:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=10989"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:54:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:54:34","slug":"skycity-expects-return-to-normal-operations-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/skycity-expects-return-to-normal-operations-in-2022","title":{"rendered":"SkyCity expects return to normal operations in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The second lockdown in Auckland cost the group about US$14 million. It is now operating at the same levels as in May.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

New\u00a0Zealand.-\u00a0\u00a0SkyCity\u00a0Entertainment Group’s chief executive, Graeme Stephens, said the company is prepared to endure new lockdowns and wait until 2022 to see a full return to normal operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: “It’s really only 2022 that we expect to be back under full strength. We feel well-positioned to ride out what is ahead of us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To cope with the financial impact of the pandemic, the company has reduced its workforce by a quarter and restructured its finances, including\u00a0raising\u00a0AU$230 million (US$163 million) in equity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephens said in a statement published by the New Zealand Herald that the group\u2019s goal is to remain open for business without spending too much capital in order to be well-positioned once the pandemic is over.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he does not expect tourism and international business to return to New Zealand for at least a\u00a0year, and that the firm\u2019s projections are to return to 2019 levels of revenue in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, the company has decided not to pay an interim dividend. Depending on how things pan out, it could pay a final-year dividend in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic had a significant impact on SkyCity\u2019s\u00a0casinos, although they were among the first in the world to reopen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Auckland casino went through a second closure<\/a><\/em><\/strong> due to a Covid-19 outbreak in August, and only returned to normal operations in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That cost\u00a0SkyCity\u00a0about AU$20 million (US$14.1 million) although the firm received government\u00a0subsidies\u00a0to pay wages. Stephens said the Auckland property is now performing consistently in line with trading during May and June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second lockdown in Auckland cost the group about US$14 million. It is now operating at the same levels as in May.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"SkyCity Entertainment Group incurred a US$14 million loss from Auckland's second lockdown, leading to a workforce reduction and a AU$230 million equity raise to bolster financial resilience. The company anticipates a full return to 2019 revenue levels by 2022, suspending interim dividends while navigating prolonged tourism disruption.","focusai_entities":"SkyCity Entertainment Group, Graeme Stephens","focusai_location":"Auckland, New Zealand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"GGR Trajectory Analysis?","query":"What is the current GGR trajectory for SkyCity's Auckland property relative to pre-pandemic levels, excluding the impact of government subsidies?"},{"label":"Equity Raise Impact?","query":"How does the AU$230 million equity raise impact SkyCity's debt-to-equity ratio and its capacity for future M&A or capital expenditure initiatives?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28],"tags":[29,338,1137],"class_list":["post-10989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","tag-casino","tag-new-zealand","tag-skycity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10997,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10989\/revisions\/10997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}