France – SFC looks to float as profits fall by €14.3 million

France – SFC looks to float as profits fall by €14.3 million

With profit down by €14.3 m for the last year at Société Française de Casinos, Casigrangi, the company’s main shareholder, has announced that it will file for a simpler public tender offer.

Casinos have been affected by the pandemic since March 2020. Hence, SFC earned an EBITDA of €2.4m in its most recent fiscal year ending in October 2020.

During the fiscal year 2019-2020, the lockdown forced the Group to close its establishments for nearly three months.

The SFC recorded a consolidated turnover of €16.3 million, a €4 million decrease ‘explained by the effects of casinos’ closures from March to June 2020.

“A recovery had initially been limited to slot machines and electronic games before the complete reopening on June 22, 2020,” the company said. Outside of the closed times, casino operation has stayed consistent with last year, demonstrating the industry’s high resilience.”

In 2019-2020, the company’s EBITDA “remained at €2.4. “A good growth” of €0.2 million despite a €4 million fall in market value.”

“The health crisis continues to have a significant impact on the Group. We were once again forced to close our casinos on October 29, 2020. There has also been no word on when casinos will reopen. Rents, electricity, personnel costs, taxes, and other expenditures are kept to a minimum in this context. As a result, in the absence of operations, the Group’s cash position decreases up to the above costs.” said the company

Casigrangi intends to file a simplified public tender offer for SFC shares at € 1.70 per share. He plans to introduce a squeeze-out following the bid if the conditions are met. This draft bid is still being reviewed by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers.”