Suncity Group Holdings Ltd has obtained a HK$400 million loan from its chairman Alvin Chau to help finance its next 12 months after booking a loss of RMB1.65 billion (HK$1.90 billion) for the six months to 30 June 2018.
In its results announcement for the period, announced overnight, Suncity Group stated that its current liabilities now exceeded its current assets by RMB3 billion and its total liabilities exceeded its total assets by RMB1.89 billion. The company’s loss for the period, increased from a loss of RMB628.5 million in 1H17, was attributed to a change in the fair value of derivative financial instruments – related primarily to a previously issued convertible bond in the amount of HK$570,000 to Suncity Group’s majority shareholder Fame Select Limited, which is itself 50% owned by Chau.
In order to cover for its growing losses, Suncity Group said overnight that it has since secured a loan of HK$400 million from “a related company which is beneficially owned by Mr Chau”, repayable over 60 months at 3.5% per annum. The group has already drawn down HK$176 million from the loan.
Despite its growing debt, Suncity Group said, “Taking into account the financial resources of the group, including the financial support from Mr Chau, its controlling shareholder and facility of HK$400 million granted from a related company subsequent to the reporting period, the directors of the company are of the opinion that the group has sufficient working capital to meet in full its financial obligations as they fall due for at least the next 12 months from the end of the reporting period.”
Losses aside, Suncity Group saw its revenue climb 25.8% in the six months to 30 June 2018 to RMB456.0 million on the back of 250% growth in its travel business, Sun Travel Ltd, to RMB250.8 million. Sun City Travel provides travel accommodation procurement and ferry ticketing to Chau’s Sun City Gaming Promotion Company Limited in Macau.
The company also booked revenue for the first time from its resort management and consultancy services segment, totalling RMB8.5 million. Suncity Group last year entered into memorandums of understanding in relation to provision of management and consultancy services to two integrated resorts in Vietnam (Van Don Project and Hoi An Project) and a technical service agreement to provide pre-opening and technical services to the casinos and F&B facilities for Van Don Project in 2017. The group also entered into another technical services agreement in February 2018 for Hoi An Project Phase 1 development of Hoi An Project, which is expected to be completed by July 2019.
