Codere, in the first quarter turnover at 127.2 million (-54.3%)

Codere, a leading multinational in the private gaming sector, closed the first quarter of the year with revenues of € 127.2 million, down 54.3% compared to the previous year following the restrictive measures adopted in the countries in response to the health crisis. At the end of the first quarter of the year, the company recorded a loss of 91.5 million euros, compared to 97.1 million losses recorded in the same period of the previous year, mainly following the closures related to Covid-19. to the increase in expenses on financial liabilities and, to a lesser extent, due to the devaluation of our operating currencies against the dollar. Codere made it known in a press release specifying that the group’s business continues to be affected by the impact of the pandemic, which continues to be serious in many of the countries where the company operates, with currently total closures of its activities in Italy, Argentina and Uruguay, and operating restrictions in the rest of its markets. The group achieved an operating profit of 127.2 million euros in the quarter, 54.3% less than the previous year. Operations in Italy remained closed during this period, which was reflected in a drop of € 60.2 million in revenues; while the closures in Mexico and Panama led to reductions of 63.5% up to € 22.1 million and of 60.1% up to € 5.8 million respectively. Also due to the restrictions, Argentina fell by 41.4%, to € 38.0 million, and Spain by 34.3%, to € 26.6 million. The company achieved an adjusted ebitda of € 3.5 million at the end of Q12021, 92.7% less than in the same quarter of 2020. The ebitda margin fell to 2.7% in this period, 14 , 4 percentage points less year on year, because the lack of income could not be fully compensated by the decrease in operating expenses, despite the significant efficiency and cost saving measures implemented during the pandemic, which resulted in a reduction year over year of 46.4%, up to 123.7 million euros in this first quarter. In terms of capacity, the number of operating machines in the group was 30,201 at the end of the quarter. During this period, 114 gambling halls, 975 arcades, 182 sports betting points and 5,864 bars were kept open. Currently, most of the company’s markets have implemented additional operating restrictions. Thus, the Italian unit remains closed, Argentina suspended its operations in April and Uruguay, from March. The company plans to fully resume operations between June and July this year, although reopening may take longer in Argentina’s case. The businesses that were able to resume their operations showed an encouraging recovery in profitability in the period in which they were not affected by the closures, in particular Spain, Panama, Argentina and Uruguay. The online business also reflects solid growth, with year-over-year growth of 23.6% to € 19.8 million in the first three months of the year. On April 22, the company reached an agreement with its creditors, called “lock-up agreement”, subsequently ratified by the shareholders’ meeting and with the support of a sufficient percentage of bondholders, for which up to 225M € will be injected into the group and up to 367 million euros will be capitalized current debt. According to the company’s current estimates, these new resources would cover its liquidity needs until the full reopening of the business.