Las Vegas Review Journal – Caesars Entertainment Corp. officials were happy to discuss the company’s second quarter results Monday, including improvements in the Las Vegas market credited to the opening of The Linq and its centerpiece High Roller observation wheel.
But don’t ask about Caesars’ ongoing restructuring plans to address its gaming industry-high $24.2 billion in long term debt.
At the outset of the question-and-answer session with analysts and investors, Caesars Chairman Gary Loveman said the company wouldn’t provide any additional disclosures related to its capital structure.
The first question concerned funding one of the company’s new affiliate divisions.
“Unfortunately, that question fell into the demilitarized zone,” Loveman said.
The analyst, saying he had no further questions, promptly hung up.
Last week, Caesars filed a lawsuit in New York claiming more than 30 bondholders are disrupting the company’s restructuring efforts. A Delaware-based fund that owns a portion of Caesars debt sued the company saying it had fraudulently transferred casino ownership to different entities.
“We have provided as much detail as we are presently able to and will release additional details as they become available,” Loveman said.
On Monday, Caesars said it more than doubled its net loss for the quarter that ended June 30 despite a jump in revenue fueled by the company’s Las Vegas operations.
The casino giant, which operates nine resorts on or near the Strip, blamed a reduction in tax benefits and a pre-tax increase in interest expense were factors in the company’s net loss.
Caesars reported a net loss of $466.4 million, an increase of 119.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The company’s loss per share was $3.24, compared to $1.69 per share in the second quarter of 2013.
The company’s net revenue grew 3 percent to $2.185.5 billion.
