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COVID-19 hits Great Canadian Gaming’s Q1 2020 results

Consumer
TSX:GC
05 May 2020 11:51 (EDT)
Great Canadian Gaming Corporation - CEO, Rod Baker

Source: InQuinte

Great Canadian Gaming (TSX:GC) has announced its financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2020, which COVID-19 impacted.

The company operates a range of gaming, entertainment, and hospitality businesses across Canada. With roughly 9,500 employees, its facilities include over 16,000 slot machines, 575 table games, 71 dining amenities, and over 500 hotel rooms.

Total revenue for the quarter fell 10 per cent to C$273.8 million. In the same period last year, the company’s total quarterly revenue was $302.8 million.

Most significantly, Great Canadian Gaming’s net earnings dropped by 32 per cent, from $41.8 million to $28.5 million.

The company largely attributed this to the closure of all gaming facilities, which took effect on March 16. The closure was one of many measures taken to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Great Canadian Gaming was able to prevent any further declines in performance. The company had a strong preceding quarter, which it coupled with the implementation of sweeping measures to reduce operating expenses.

But it wasn’t just revenue-generating operations that took a hit. In addition to the closures, the Government of Ontario ordered a mandated shutdown of all non-essential construction projects. This resulted in the suspension of the Pickering Casino Resort and Woodbine developments, as well as several expansion projects.

Great Canadian Gaming says that revised timelines for these developments will become available once the extent and duration of these closures are clearer.

The company’s CEO, Rod Baker, said that Great Canadian Gaming is working diligently on its re-opening plans.

“We expect the start-up and post-relaunch ramp-up periods of our gaming facilities and capital projects under development to be a challenging time for Great Canadian. We are very fortunate to have so many dedicated and hard-working team members getting us though this difficult closure period and into our reopening phase,” he added.

Great Canadian Gaming (GC) is up 4.23 per cent to $26.35 per share at 11:12am EDT.

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