Bolsa Madrid-based gaming group Codere SA posted group-wide losses of €97 million in the first quarter, up tenfold over 2019. The company is seeking capital to keep it going beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, according to SBC News. Q1 2019 losses amounted to €8.6 million.
In a trading statement, Codere told investors its cash position will come to €83 million in overall May trading should it repay its deferred monthly bond coupon repayments.
Maintaining its business units on an extended €130 million credit facility, the operator said its corporate debt has risen to €976 million with the company holding debt-net equivalents of €826 million.
The group’s performance has been further damaged by acute currency fluctuations in South America, SBC reported. Reporting double-digit declines across all core operating markets, Codere saw its group operating revenue decline 21 percent to €278 million. And despite reducing operating expenses by €42 million, the firm’s group costs savings could not offset unit-wide declines, as it recorded an adjusted period EBITDA of €40 million..
Shareholder eyes have turned to Chairman Norman Sorensen to learn how the company can raise vital capital and whether Codere will proceed to sell-off of company units to keep the business afloat during the next quarter.
In its trading statement, the firm noted: “Together with these efforts to preserve liquidity, we have also launched a formal process with financial advisors, to raise an incremental €105 mm senior debt in order to provide the company with sufficient flexibility to bridge to the restart of our operations and to achieve a revenue run rate that allows us to start generating cash with sufficient room to face potential additional uncertainties in the next months.”
