South Shore Holdings Limited, formerly known as The 13 Holdings Limited, has flagged the possibility of requesting a seventh deadline extension for the launch of its long-awaited luxury Macau hotel, The 13 – despite revealing it is yet to receive bank approval for its current extension request to 31 July 2018.
The business update formed part of South Shore’s results announcement for the year ended 31 March 2018, which saw losses increase 34-fold to HK$1.2 billion due to the resumption of construction last year and pre-opening expenses.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday, the company confirmed that the Macao Government Tourism Office had commenced its hotel inspection process on 4 June but that additional time was now required due to the discovery by the MGTO of defective works. As a result, the opening date of The 13 has been revised to 31 July 2018 – however South Shore added that this date “may be further revised according to the actual circumstances in respect of the development.” The company is in the process of completing its final fit-out, furnishing and installations after raising HK$973 million in March via a rights issue.
In the meantime, approval on its planned 31 July opening is yet to be received by the company’s bank. South Shore has previously been granted five bank extensions to its original 31 March 2017 opening date, including to 31 July 2017, 31 December 2017, 31 March 2018, 30 March 2018 and 30 June 2018.
“The group has not received any written confirmation from the bank that the extension request has been successful,” the company said of its latest request, although it pointed out that the request had not been rejected either.
“The bank has frequent communications with the group on the progress of hotel opening preparation and also shows the positive support of the group. Therefore, the directors of the company do not expect the application of further extension will be withheld by the relevant bank. Moreover, based on the current status of the hotel development and the working capital on hand, the directors of the company believe that they could obtain all the licenses for the operation of hotel business from the relevant authorities by the end of July 2018.”
South Shore has previously stated its intention to apply for the provision of gaming tables at The 13, however even if approved the company will likely have to wait until 2019. Earlier this month, Macau’s gaming regulator knocked back a request by Melco Resorts for new-to-market tables at its luxury hotel Morpheus due to this year’s allocation being “maxed out” under the city’s table cap.
