World Cup not so good for Sky City
CEO says local business was lost in September as Aucklanders chose to watch the games at fanzones or at home.
Rugby World Cup was lacklustre for Sky City, shareholders heard this morning.
The six-week tournament was expected to bring in earnings of up to $20 million across the group’s hotel, casino and bar and restaurant facilities in Auckland.
But what actually came in was $12 million – with most of that earned in the final two weeks.
Sky City chief executive Nigel Morrison said a lot of local business was lost in September as Aucklanders chose to watch the games at fanzones or at home with family and friends.
“Sky TV probably did well,” he said.
Money spent on tickets to the games was also likely to have softened the numbers through bars and casinos, he said.
“We really didn’t see anything in September during the Rugby World Cup in Auckland.”
The bigger contributor to the $26.5 million or 8.8% uplift in earnings over the last four months, revealed today, was the new restaurants and bars on Federal St including The Grill, Red Hummingbird and Depot.
Sky City has recently spent $50 million on developing the strip, on the doorstep of its casino, hotel and Sky Tower in Auckland.
Plans to spend a further $10 million to make Federal St more pedestrian-friendly and adding another two or three similar signature restaurants were continuing, with negotiations with Auckland City due to be finalised by March next year.
International business turnover was up nearly 30% between July and October, compared with the preceding four months, and 200% ahead of earnings from the same time last year, with turnover exceeding $1 billion to October 31.
Sky City expected to reveal a full year normalised group net profit (for the year to June 30 2012) to be in the $140 millions, up from the record $130.9 million earned last year.
Shares in Sky City are trading up 3c at $3.46.
Georgina Bond
Fri, 11 Nov 2011
Fri, 11 Nov 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
World Cup not so good for Sky City
17794