Heavily indebted SkyCity goes on trading halt as it prepares for probable capital raise

Tuesday, 19 August 2025

SkyCity is trying to turn itself around after a hard slog brought about by the 2019 fires at its then nearly completed international convention centre, the Covid-19 pandemic, and self-inflicted wounds from money laundering and responsible gambling system failures.

SkyCity Entertainment shares were put into a trading halt as the company prepares for its profit announcement on Thursday.

SkyCity, which owns casinos in Auckland, Hamilton, Queenstown, and Adelaide, asked the NZX sharemarket to grant the halt as it prepares to make a “material announcement” regarding a capital raise.

An article in The Australian reported market scuttlebutt that the casino operator would ask institutional investors to stump up around A$200 million (NZ$219 million), or look at asset sales, to shore up its position.

SkyCity said the trading halt was needed to maintain an orderly market while it worked to finalise the capital raise and its full-year results.

The troubled casino and entertainment complex operator has seen its share price fall from over $3 in late-2021 to around $1.

“SkyCity expects to make a material announcement regarding a capital raise, together with its financial results for the period ended 30 June 2025, in the coming days,” it said.

“SkyCity is aware of certain media reports regarding the proposed capital raise and its [2025 financial year] results, but is not presently in a position to make an announcement regarding the capital raise, as no final decision has been made to proceed, and the final details are still being determined.”

When it released its half-year financial statements earlier this year, its income statement showed it earning gross revenue of $421 million. But after the costs of running the operation were deducted, that fell to $67.7m of net revenue before interest and tax.

Inside the SkyCity convention centre, one year on from the devastating fire.

However, after paying $39.6m in net finance costs, and $22m in tax, its after-tax profit for the six-month period was just over $6m.

The results would be consistent with the updated full year earnings guidance announced by SkyCity on 6 May 2025.

Then, the company warned shareholders that market conditions had continued to deteriorate, and it expected its full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to fall to around 4% below the bottom of its current guidance range of $225m to $245m.

In its last full year, SkyCity’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation was $138m.

SkyCity hopes to open the doors on its much-delayed international convention centre early next year, delays for which it is seeking $330m in compensation from Fletcher Building.

And it is hoping to put behind it other difficulties, including its anti-money laundering and problem gambling supervision failures that prompted regulators to take action in Australia and New Zealand.

Wellington does not have a casino, a decision which dates back to a 1997 attempt to establish a casino in the city. That led Wellington City Council to adopt a casino policy in July of that year, which said: “Council does not support a casino in Wellington.”