On Monday Crown Ltd. said it expects to lose 450 million Australian dollars in its first-half results because of anticipated write-downs associated with the Australian company's United States investments, which includes the troubled Station Casinos Inc.
According to Crown Ltd., its minority United States investments include 19.6 percent interest in Fontainebleau Resorts as well as interests of approximately 4.9 percent in Station Casinos Inc. and 2.5 percent in Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.
Recently included in a U.S. News & World Report list of “15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009,” Station Casinos Inc. was mentioned in Crown Ltd.'s stock exchange release as a reason for the advance write-down anticipation due to the Las Vegas company's recent capital restructuring announcement.
According to Crown Ltd., the impact on the company's profit and loss statement of these write-downs is expected to be approximately 450 million Australian dollars. The company said it expects the carrying value of these investments to be reduced to approximately 100 million Australian dollars upon completion of the review.
“The decline in valuations has been precipitated by the current economic conditions in the U.S.,” the company said in a statement. “Although our partners in some of these investments may have differing views on their value, Crown believes its approach to be prudent in the current climate.”
Crown’s audited results for the half year ended Dec. 31, 2008 will be made on Feb. 27.