Colorado Springs-based Century Casinos is positioning itself for growth, though the pandemic kept its Canadian casinos closed for the first quarter, and it still hasn’t reopened its casinos in Poland.
Century owns three hotel casinos and a racetrack in Canada, five U.S. casinos, one casino in the U.K. and shares of Casinos Poland.
Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon tells investors that Century is shifting its focus from its small casinos and looking for expansion in the U.S. He wrote in a research note: “Management has moved away from the small operations globally and remains adamant about exiting its low-margin Poland operations, once a core segment to the overall business.”
Beynon added, “In the meantime, we believe the company has been looking for its next move in the U.S. given its healthy balance sheet.”
The company’s first quarter earnings, or rather losses, were much better than most Wall Street forecasts. First quarter losses were $1.4 million, compared to $45.8 million a year ago.
Century co-CEOs Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger said in a statement: “For the third quarter in a row, we have been able to achieve high operating margins and we believe that will continue to be attainable.” They said they expect Canadian properties to reopen in time for summer.
