GGRAsia – Macau’s The 13 Hotel promoter widens 1H loss

Macau’s The 13 Hotel promoter widens 1H loss

Nov 27, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

South Shore Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong-listed promoter of The 13 Hotel (pictured), a luxury Macau property that had aspired to have a casino, says it widened its fiscal first-half loss this year.

Such loss was HKD506.7 million (US$64.7 million) in the six months to September 30, compared to nearly HKD442.4 million in the prior-year period. The loss per basic and diluted share also widened, to HKD0.50 from HKD0.437 in each case.

Management said an interim loss for the hotel segment of its operations, amounting to “approximately HKD508 million” mainly represented “finance costs for hotel operations, depreciation and amortisation charges and other hotel operation costs recorded in the current period”.

Group revenue for the period rose 16 percent, to just under HKD5.15 billion. It included the contribution of Paul Y. Engineering Group Ltd, a major subsidiary of South Shore engaged in the construction business.

South Shore reported a net loss of more than HKD5.84 billion for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, according to the company’s annual report filed in late August. The company reported in its financial statements for the year an aggregate impairment of approximately HKD4.70 billion on the carrying amount of assets under the hotel segment.

The company explained at the time that the impairment was to due with the absence of gaming operations at the property. “Given that no formal agreement has been entered into with any concessionaire or sub-concessionnaire as operator, in respect of any gaming operations in The 13 Hotel, a significant reduction of anticipated occupancy and room rates as well as forecast revenue has been made in our business plans, taking account of current market conditions,” it said.

The 13 Hotel opened on August 31, 2018. In April this year, South Shore said a memorandum of understanding with an “affiliate” of a licensed Macau casino operator – in relation to the management and operation of a casino in The 13 Hotel – remained “in place”. No gaming operation is currently at the venue.

Tuesday’s interim results noted South Shore was already in breach of a number of conditions or “covenants” required by certain lenders.

It owes just over HKD2.94 billion to a single bank, the group noted in its Tuesday filing. But the firm said it did not expect to receive any demand for immediate repayment “for at least the next 12 months from the date of approval of these condensed consolidated financial statements,” as the group had had “frequent communications” with the bank, which indicated its “positive support for the group”.

A principal amount of just under HKD556.3 million is due to be repaid on a loan as of December 16, noted the firm in its half-year results to the Hong Kong bourse.

Earlier this month, South Shore said in a filing that one of its units had arranged for disposal of a 50 percent stake in The 13 Hotel.