New Zealand’s SkyCity Entertainment Group has announced a series of balance sheet initiatives aimed at boosting liquidity and reducing leverage while it “navigates [a] period of continued economic weakness” in the ANZ market.
The NZ$240 million (US$140 million) equity raising, which includes a NZ$81 million (US$47 million) institutional placement and NZ$159 million (US$93 million) entitlement offer, comes despite the company reporting some positive performance indicators in its financial results for the year ended 30 June 2025, also released this morning.
SkyCity said it is also planning a number of “asset monetizations” in the near-term via the possible divestment of its Auckland carpark concession and an office building, which it expects would release another NZ$200 million (US$116 million), while dividend payments will not resume until at least FY27 or once trading conditions and free cash flow improve.
By doing so, the company hopes to reduce leverage from 3.1x to 2.2x in FY26 and to 2.0x by FY27.
Trading in shares of SkyCity, which were halted on Tuesday, resumed early Thursday morning.
“Our announcement today, to raise NZ$240m of equity, will improve our financial stability in the current market conditions and provide us with the right foundations to step prudently into the opportunities that are ahead of us. We know what we need to do and we’re leaning into it,” said SkyCity CEO Jason Walbridge.
SkyCity’s FY25 results saw group revenue decline by 5% year-on-year to NZ$825.2 million (US$480 million) on challenging market conditions and customer churn in the premium and VIP customer segments at SkyCity Auckland plus higher levels of customer churn in the VIP customer segment at Australian property SkyCity Adelaide due to enhanced AML and host responsibility initiatives. While property visitation was up 4.6% year-on-year, spend per visit fell.
However, reported Group EBITDA of NZ$216.1 million (US$126 million) was 56.4% higher year-on-year due to the absence of one-off items. Net profit of NZ$29.2 million (US$17.0 million), while impacted by an NZ$27.3 million (US$15.9 million) Adelaide casino duty settlement, reversed the NZ$143.3 million (US$83 million) loss reported a year earlier.
In an eventful 12 months for the company, SkyCity was recently deemed suitable by the South Australian regulator to retain its Adelaide casino license, while in New Zealand it rolled out mandatory carded play across its casino floors in Auckland, Hamilton and Queenstown.
Providing an update on performance since 1 July, Walbridge said, “Early FY26 trading has been substantially in line with our expectations. The impact of carded play is in-line with our previous guidance and we’re yet to observe any positive change in consumer discretionary spending in the subdued New Zealand economy.
“We expect overall market conditions will continue to be challenging in the short term. This continues to be a challenge for us as the ongoing delay in the economic recovery in New Zealand comes at the same time as elevated costs related to upgrading our regulatory systems and B3 (Building a Better Business) program, pre-opening costs for New Zealand International Convention Centre in February and the expected launch of regulated online casino gaming in winter 2026.”
SkyCity added that it expects to report EBITDA of between NZ$170.6 million and NZ$190.6 million (US$99 million and US$111 million) in FY26 once taking into account B3 costs of almost NZ$20 million (US$11.6 million).
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