Latest / Best of Business / Jason Walbridge: SkyCity CEO on the company's 42 percent profit drop

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Jason Walbridge: SkyCity CEO on the company's 42 percent profit drop · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
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  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio. Now.
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  Speaker 2: SkyCity is after all, going to go ahead with that
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  Speaker 2: capital raise. It's looking to raise two hundred and forty
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  Speaker 2: million dollars. Announced today that they have a forty two
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  Speaker 2: percent drop in profit for the year, down to seventy
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  Speaker 2: one point five million dollars now. Jason Woolbridge is sky
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  Speaker 2: City's chief executive High Jason, Hi, Heather, are you worried
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  Speaker 2: about Alan Gray's opposition to your capital raise.
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  Speaker 3: We've certainly taken into account all of our major investors' feedback.
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  Speaker 3: We believe that we're acting in the best interests of
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  Speaker 3: the company and you know, we were pleased to be
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  Speaker 3: able to announce our FY twenty five results today along
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  Speaker 3: with the equity rays of two hundred and forty million dollars.
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  Speaker 2: The point that Alan Gray's making is that you guys
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  Speaker 2: should be selling as many assets as you can first.
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  Speaker 2: Is that a fairpoint?
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  Speaker 3: We agree we need to monetize some assets. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we're a fantastic quality business. We're a key part of
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  Speaker 3: News Island and South Australian economy, and the equity rays
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  Speaker 3: and selling some assets is about paying down debt and
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  Speaker 3: resetting our balance sheet for the future.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Do you not have enough assets though? To avoid
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  Speaker 2: the capital rays?
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  Speaker 3: It's all about timing. We've been working hard on monetizing
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  Speaker 3: the car parks and the commercial building. These things, unfortunately
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  Speaker 3: take time in a tough New Zealand economy.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, how is it going with the sales that you
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  Speaker 2: already have underwe or that you're planning to do.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've been underway with the car park for about
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  Speaker 3: six months now. It's going to take us another six
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  Speaker 3: to twelve months, and the commercial buildings will just take
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  Speaker 3: us a little bit longer.
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  Speaker 2: It's a rubbish time to be trying to sell that
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  Speaker 2: kind of stuff, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: It's not the best time. It's a tough New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: economy for all New Zealanders as well as companies like
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  Speaker 3: us trying to sell key assets.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, are you seeing a difference in how you guys
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  Speaker 2: are doing over in Australia versus how you doing here?
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  Speaker 3: It's certainly different economies. The South Australian economy is very
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  Speaker 3: strong versus here in New Zealand. We have seen less
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  Speaker 3: spend per visit, But across both jurisdictions visitations remained really
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  Speaker 3: strong and we're thrilled about that.
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  Speaker 2: Why is it so much stronger in South Australia do
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  Speaker 2: you think?
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  Speaker 3: I think it's just a different economy. They've rebounded back
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  Speaker 3: post COVID with tourism a lot stronger. They're focused on
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  Speaker 3: bringing big events to South Australia. You know, all the
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  Speaker 3: things that New Zealand knows how to do, and we're
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  Speaker 3: getting back to doing those things. It's just taking us
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  Speaker 3: a little while.
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  Speaker 2: Do you support the calls that are increasingly coming out
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  Speaker 2: of Auckland for some sort of assistance for.
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  Speaker 3: Auckland, for the city overall. I'm not really sure about that.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we're focused on what we can control of SkyCity.
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  Speaker 3: We're excited about the convention Center opening in February. We're
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  Speaker 3: going to bring down up to five hundred thousand delicate
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  Speaker 3: days worth of activity into the city and that fills
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  Speaker 3: up hotels and restaurants and bars. So you know, that's
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  Speaker 3: where we're our focus is at the moment. What about
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  Speaker 3: things we can control?
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  Speaker 2: What about the bead levy? Would you support that?
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  Speaker 3: We're certainly supportive of something of that nature. We would
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  Speaker 3: like to see more major events coming back to New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: and we need to be able to fund the activity
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  Speaker 3: that's required to bring those events down here.
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  Speaker 2: Because is it just me or is it actually is
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  Speaker 2: there like a bit of a dearth of good things
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  Speaker 2: on our calendar in Auckland.
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  Speaker 3: There is. We're in a little bit of a drought
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  Speaker 3: at the moment. You know, we would love to see
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  Speaker 3: some more things, and that's why we're excited about the
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  Speaker 3: convention Center. You know, we're going to open in February.
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  Speaker 3: We've got thirty odd events in the first four or
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  Speaker 3: five months.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, look, Jason, you might be excited about the
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  Speaker 2: convention Center. I'm not excited about the convention Center. It's
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  Speaker 2: not going to give me a concert I can go to,
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  Speaker 2: is it?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it may do. We haven't announced the launch events
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  Speaker 3: yet here that there may be something in there that
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  Speaker 3: you look forward to.
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  Speaker 2: No, perhaps so, But I mean, listen, tell me, you
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  Speaker 2: know you're an expert in this kind of thing. I'm
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  Speaker 2: looking at the calendar thinking, Jesus, a bit dry out
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  Speaker 2: there at the minute. How much more should we actually
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  Speaker 2: have on the calendar than we do?
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  Speaker 3: Look, particularly through the winter period, it'd be lovely to
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  Speaker 3: see more events, you know, one or two events every month.
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  Speaker 3: Just think back to October last year when we had
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  Speaker 3: Coldplay in town. Yeah, what a big difference that made
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  Speaker 3: to the city. That's the sort of stuff that we
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  Speaker 3: really want to see in Auckland happening far more often.
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  Speaker 2: So, if you could put your finger on the thing
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  Speaker 2: that's causing us to not have those things on the calendar,
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  Speaker 2: what is it.
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  Speaker 3: Right now at the moment, it's funding. You know, these
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  Speaker 3: events work on a two, three four year horizon. We've
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  Speaker 3: got to be booking these events now for twenty seven,
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  Speaker 3: twenty eight, and twenty nine. Our sales team for the
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  Speaker 3: Convention Center are selling on a three to five year horizon.
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  Speaker 3: We've already got events in the calendar for twenty seven
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  Speaker 3: and twenty eight.
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  Speaker 2: Have we got events for Auckland. Have we booked things
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  Speaker 2: for two three years out?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure of specific events that we've got.
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  Speaker 3: You'd need to talk to the Tea at Heart of
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  Speaker 3: Auckland and Tataki Unlimited.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, fair point. Now you spoke about the Convention Center,
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  Speaker 2: which obviously is fantastic for you guys, and you're getting
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  Speaker 2: the keys in February. How much is that going to
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  Speaker 2: turn around the fortunes of your business? Do you reckon?
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  Speaker 3: It's a game changer for us. As we ramp that
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  Speaker 3: property to full capacity, We're hoping to see five hundred
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  Speaker 3: thousand odd visited days worth of activity there. And it's
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  Speaker 3: people in our hotels, restaurants into our casino. And it's
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  Speaker 3: not only good for sky City, it's good for every
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  Speaker 3: hotel operator, every restaurant operator in the city of Auckland.
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  Speaker 2: And this business with Fletcher in the court case, how
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  Speaker 2: long is that going to take? Do you think?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, it's never a decision
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  Speaker 3: that any company wants to make, but we just failed.
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  Speaker 3: It was the best interest of our shareholders. The building
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  Speaker 3: six and a half years late. You know, at some
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  Speaker 3: point we need to sit down and settle up. What's
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  Speaker 3: happened there? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Jason's good to talk to you and thank you
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  Speaker 2: for your time. Jason Woolbridge, Chief executive of sky City.
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