Sun International Limited's annual financial statements suffered the effects of the coronavirus
South African casino operator Sun International Limited reportedly released audited financial results for the twelve months through the end of December, showing a total loss of nearly $82.51 million.
According to a March 16 report by analyst portal Free Bets South Africa, the Johannesburg-headquartered company revealed that its annual financial results were negatively impacted by three months of closures of its domestic operations due to the coronavirus as well as ongoing trade restrictions related to the pandemic.
Significant closures
Sun International Limited operates or has an interest in 19 luxury resorts, hotels and casinos located in five countries, and its operating profit in 2020 reportedly fell nearly 49% year over year to $410.63 million as net gaming winnings fell 45%. to $342.45 million . This allegedly occurred when the company was forced to close all of its South African operations from late March through June before it faced additional burdens due to related travel and liquor bans, bandwidth restrictions, social distancing protocols and curfews.
Primary Patient
The four-bed Sun City Resort near Rustenburg, South Africa, is the largest of Sun International Limited's hotels and reportedly suffered the most after it was only allowed to reopen in September. The complex is also home to the tourist attractions " Palace of the Lost City" and " Valley of Waves" and allegedly ended the year with an impairment loss of about $60.61 million .
Reverse Returns
Johannesburg listed Sun International Limited is also responsible for South Africa's The Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World , Flamingo Casino and GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World and reportedly recorded a 72% year-over-year drop in adjusted annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to about $60.48 million .
Reportedly read a statement from Sun International Limited: " The coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on the group, with all operations shut down for three months or longer and trading in March 2020 significantly disrupted. As a result of the lengthy quarantine and expected slow recovery, we incurred impairment losses of $87.62 million, including Sun City Resort of $60.61 million, The Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World of $12.13 million, Maslow of $6.47 million and intangible assets of $5.06 million."
Proactive maneuvers
Nevertheless, Sun International Limited CEO Anthony Leaming reportedly said his company has taken a number of steps to better deal with the effects of the pandemic, including cutting payroll costs by 60 percent and closing its internal company, Naledi Sun Hotel and Casino and Carousel Casino . The boss allegedly said the company recently deferred all capital investments, completed an $81 million rights offering and accelerated the sale of " certain non-core assets " such as a stake in South American casino operator Sun Dreams SA .
As a result of these two recent moves, Liming reportedly went on to proclaim that Sun International Limited has now increased its liquidity and ``has significantly strengthened'' its balance sheet to ensure that it ``remains well positioned'' to meet any future challenges to be able to ``recover and grow into the future.
