Star Sydney executives Greg Hawkins and Dino Mezzatesta, also Cronulla Sharks chairman, to replace department heads at Gold Coast, Brisbane casinos
Two Sydney executives, one of them an NRL club chairman, have replaced department heads across The Star casinos at the Gold Coast and Brisbane as the group cuts costs in the face of a projected profit slump.
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TWO executives from The Star Sydney have replaced department heads across casinos at the Gold Coast and Brisbane as the group looks to cut costs in the face of a projected profit slump.
The Star chairman John O’Neill said all gaming operations for the group, which previously had general managers at each site, would be managed by Greg Hawkins, managing director of The Star Sydney.
He said all food, beverage, hotels and entertainment managers would be replaced by Dino Mezzatesta, previously chief operating officer of hotels, food and beverage and retail for the Star Sydney.
Mr Mezzatesta is also current chairman of the Cronulla Sharks.
The Star began telling up to 20 per cent of its salaried staff they no longer had jobs last week after announcing it expected to make more than three per cent less than it did last financial year.
Shares in the company dropped 17 per cent the day of the announcement, wiping more than $700 million from its market value and two major shareholders have since offloaded more than 25 million shares in the company.
Shares have recovered from their low of $3.745 last week to finish today’s trading at $4.085.
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Mr O’Neill, who was this week named new chairman of Queensland Airports Ltd, said centralisation of the group’s three properties was inevitable but had to be brought forward in the face of the poor conditions.
“It’s not armageddon by any stretch but it was timely to accelerate some cost-cutting measures which were in play as a result of some significant organisational changes that Matt Bekier has enacted,” he said.
“The history of the properties is that they operated in silos and there was not a lot of commonality in the way the three properties operated, they were left to their own devices.
“The gaming operations across all three properties are now under one person, chief gaming officer Greg Hawkins.
“The next step is that all the non-gaming activities — food, beverage, hotels, entertainment, will all be under the one chief of hospitality and tourism — Dino Mezzatesta.
“Then the back-of-house operations will also be centralised.
“It’s not dramatic — it’s painful — but it’s not dramatic.”
GOLD COAST DRIVES RECORD FIRST-HALF EARNINGS FOR THE STAR
Mr O’Neill could no rule out further cost cuts.
“One would hope that’s the end of it but the macroeconomic conditions for the domestic economy are a bit anaemic,” he said.
“We’ll alway have to cut our cloth accordingly and continue to assess our circumstances, depending on what the economic environment is throwing up.
“There was an election in NSW in March and a Federal Election in May, so we’re hoping for a bit of a bounce, but allied to that is the ripple effect from the China-USA trade wars.
“In our three properties ion Australia visitation levels have been maintained, but the spend has been halved.”
Mr O’Neill said The Star had worked to diversify its market through South East Asia and Japan to counter the decrease in Chinese spend.
“I’m pretty confident that normality will eventually be restored,” he said.
“We’re investing in the future.”
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