{"id":19089,"date":"2021-06-16T16:43:13","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T16:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19089"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:29:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:29:41","slug":"universal-entertainment-liquidity-doubts-to-continue-analysts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/universal-entertainment-liquidity-doubts-to-continue-analysts-say","title":{"rendered":"Universal Entertainment liquidity doubts to continue, analysts say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite the issue of additional senior notes due 2024, Fitch Ratings will maintain the CCC+ default rating for Universal Entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Japan.- Fitch Ratings<\/strong> has maintained its CCC+ default rating<\/strong> for the gaming company\u00a0Universal Entertainment Corp<\/strong>,\u00a0which operates Okada Manila in the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the\u00a0issue of additional notes due in 2024<\/a>\u00a0outside of Japan, Fitch said there is still uncertainty over the company’s liquidity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts stated: “This is because the positive impact of the tap issuance is counterbalanced by ongoing uncertainty<\/strong> over Universal Entertainment\u2019s liquidity and free cash flow generation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the issue of additional notes, the operator aimed to\u00a0redeem the outstanding principal amount of US$118m of the company\u2019s existing notes due 2021<\/strong>, which were privately placed outside Japan in December 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May,\u00a0Fitch Ratings revised its outlook<\/a>\u00a0for the gaming company and lowered it from\u00a0B to CCC+<\/strong>, suggesting default is a real possibility for the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fitch said that unless Universal Entertainment saw significant improvement in the second half of the year 2021,\u00a0it may have insufficient liquidity to meet the repayment\u00a0<\/strong>of its senior notes. Ongoing\u00a0travel restrictions and lockdowns\u00a0<\/strong>ould lead to further cash burn and deteriorating liquidity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its prospects depend on what occurs in\u00a0the Philippines<\/a>.\u00a0Okada Manila<\/strong> was closed in March and was allowed to reopen in May with a limited capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the first quarter, Universal Entertainment<\/a> reported net sales down 64 per cent year-on-year at JPY14.7bn (US$134.1m)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Amusement Equipment business<\/strong>\u00a0saw sales fall to\u00a012,708 units compared with 52,631 units in the same period of 2020<\/strong>. Its net sales were JPY5.38bn, down 78.2 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for its\u00a0pachinko and pachislot machine business in Japan<\/strong>, the company\u00a0reported that orders remain low\u00a0<\/strong>due to uncertainly over when the Covid-19 crisis will end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the issue of additional senior notes due 2024, Fitch Ratings will maintain the CCC+ default rating for Universal Entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Fitch Ratings has maintained Universal Entertainment's CCC+ default rating, citing persistent liquidity concerns and uncertain free cash flow generation despite the issuance of additional senior notes. The gaming operator, which runs Okada Manila, faces significant financial pressure from ongoing travel restrictions and reduced sales across its gaming verticals, raising the specter of potential default on its senior notes.","focusai_entities":"Fitch Ratings, Universal Entertainment Corp, Okada Manila","focusai_location":"Japan, Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.75), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Universal Entertainment Covenants?","query":"What are the specific covenants and repayment schedules for Universal Entertainment's senior notes, and how do they impact the immediate default risk?"},{"label":"Improve Free Cash Flow?","query":"Beyond travel restrictions, what operational efficiencies or strategic divestitures could Universal Entertainment pursue to improve its free cash flow generation?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,16333],"tags":[23686],"class_list":["post-19089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-universal-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089","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\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19089"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19107,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089\/revisions\/19107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}