Cairns Reef Hotel Casino records small net loss for 2020 for first time since 1999
The Reef Hotel Casino has emerged from COVID-19 with its worst result in more than two decades. Casino boss Allan Tan explains what the loss means for the business.
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THE REEF Hotel Casino has buffered the challenges of the global pandemic to report a net loss of $209,000 — its worst result in more than 20 years.
It’s the first time since 1999 that the casino has reported a financial year loss, and it is almost entirely attributed to the coronavirus crisis with international visitors locked out and sporadic domestic border closures.
Executive director Allan Tan said the figures — released in the 2020 annual report — were being seen as a small triumph in the face of the casino’s forced three month shutdown last year in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We are reasonably happy with how we steered through and navigated through a very challenging year,” he said.
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“The 2020 year was our worst in 20 years, it was still a loss, but we can understand why.
“So given it was a COVID year, I think we are reasonably pleased with how we managed to deal with the situation and survive.”
Shareholders of the company, jointly owned by Casinos Austria International Limited and Accor Casino Investments, still managed to pocket a dividend with the latest financial statements revealing a distributable profit of $4.85m — down 27.2 per cent on the previous year.
Mr Tan said international visitors from China, a key market, were “generally softer” in January and February last year, with that country the first affected by the virus.
Australia closed its border to Chinese visitors on February 1.
Consequently, the usual “high season” Chinese New Year period (January 25 to February 28) did not materialise for Cairns.
The casino was then closed from March 23 to July 3.
Mr Tan said the company bounced back well in the second half of the year.
“The team, the staff, the directors, the board, the managers and the whole team, dealt with the challenges in a very professional manner,” he said.
While most staff were stood down, there were no redundancies in the last financial year, due to the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme.
The casino also opened a new restaurant, Soy’s Kitchen, despite the challenges.
Mr Tan was optimistic about 2021.
“We are seeing a slight uplift (in visitors), but it’s early days,” he said.
Originally published as Cairns Reef Hotel Casino records small net loss for 2020 for first time since 1999
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