Canada
Great Canadian Gaming Announces Third Quarter 2020 Results
Great Canadian Gaming Corporation announced its financial results for the three month period ended September 30, 2020 .
THIRD QUARTER 2020 UPDATES
On November 10, 2020, the Company entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds (the “Apollo Funds”) managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo”). Under the terms of the agreement, Apollo Funds will acquire all the outstanding common shares of the Company for $39.00 per share.
Since the closures on March 16, 2020 in an effort to contribute to the containment of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (“the Pandemic”), the Company has reopened its gaming properties under restricted operating conditions in Ontario and New Brunswick on September 28, 2020 and in Nova Scotia on October 5, 2020. Due to localized health authority mandates, Casino Woodbine and Casino New Brunswick were temporarily closed again on October 9, 2020, with Casino New Brunswick reopened again on October 23, 2020.
Shareholders’ net loss from continuing operations of $36.5 million or $0.66 per common share in the third quarter, compared to shareholders’ net earnings from continuing operations of $49.7 million or $0.85 per common share in the same period in the prior year.
“We are pleased that the transaction with Apollo represents a great opportunity for our shareholders, while continuing to support the success of the business longer term. We believe this transaction is beneficial for our shareholders, our team members, our guests, and other stakeholders as we continue to execute on our operational and development plans into 2021 and beyond, while we navigate through this volatile time,” stated Rod Baker, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.
“We were able to safely reopen our gaming properties under restricted operating conditions in Ontario and in the Atlantic region, allowing us to initially bring back to work a small complement of team members in these provinces. We have worked diligently these past several months on comprehensive reopening plans that adhere to provincial guidelines on health and safety. We will continue to follow the direction of provincial governments and local health authorities, which continues to be rapidly fluctuating and will require the Company to adjust the operating environment in the future as conditions evolve, and may include temporary resuspensions like those we experienced with some of our properties,” continued Mr. Baker. “Although we have partially reopened our gaming properties, gaming revenues in each jurisdiction are significantly reduced due to the restricted operating conditions.”
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The temporary suspension of all of the Company’s gaming facilities for almost the entire third quarter resulted in decreases in revenues, expenses, Adjusted EBITDA1, shareholders’ net earnings (loss), Free Cash Flow1, and total cash flows, when compared to the same period in the prior year.
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1 Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow are non-IFRS measures, as described in the disclaimer section of this press release, and excludes discontinued operations
The Company incurred negative Free Cash Flow during the temporary suspension period. During the third quarter, the Company had negative Free Cash Flow of $54.8 million, which was primarily due to $62.2 million in capital expenditures related to our capital developments in Ontario. Negative Free Cash Flow for the third quarter of 2020 was an improvement from negative Free Cash Flow of $123.4 in the second quarter of 2020, which included capital expenditures of $98.6 million. This negative Free Cash Flow was funded with borrowings from the Company’s credit facilities, and the remaining from available cash balances.
The Company had cash outflow of $26.3 million for the third quarter, which was lower than the cash outflow of $97.8 million in the same period in 2019, due to reduced cash outflows from financing and investing activities. The Company repurchased $8.0 million of common shares under the normal course issuer bid in the third quarter of 2020, compared to $71.9 million of repurchases in the same period in the prior year.
OUTLOOK
“Despite the impact that the Pandemic has had on our construction projects, we are moving forward with our GTA capital development programs, primarily our Pickering Casino Resort and Casino Woodbine integrated resort developments, which will be primarily funded by our capital expenditures credit facility. We continue to assess the timing for the launch of these developments; however, we do not anticipate any impact to our total planned capital spend. As we continue to incur the expenditures related to these development programs, we are encouraged by the partial reopening of our gaming facilities which will assist us in improving our cash flow profile for the remainder of 2020 and beyond, subject to our gaming properties remaining open.”
“Great Canadian remains proactive in maintaining its capital structure while minimizing cash outflows and taking measures to reduce operating expenses as appropriate. As at September 30, 2020, Great Canadian continues to remain in stable capital and liquidity position with a cash balance of $471.9 million and $1,062.5 million of available undrawn credit on its credit facilities, subject to applicable covenants. The Company has entered into agreements with its lenders to temporarily waive compliance with its financial and operational covenants under certain of its credit facilities. As at September 30, 2020, we were in compliance with all applicable covenants and we are currently in preliminary discussions to extend our waiver period with our banking partners, who continue to provide ongoing support to our business,” concluded Mr. Baker.
SOURCE Great Canadian Gaming Corporation
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