Gambling group, Tatts Group Ltd, has revealed $165 million in write-downs and impairment charges on assets in Britain and NSW to be taken in the June 30, 2010 annual result and accounts.
Tatts revealed the cuts in a statement to the ASX yesterday.
The company’s shares didn’t react all that noticeably to the news, closing down 2c at $2.23.
But that’s only 5c above its 52 week low of $2.19, so the market isn’t really happy about the outlook for the gambling operator.
Tatts said it had reduced the book value of its investment in UK gaming machine business, Talarius, by $140 million.
"An emergency budget in the UK has delivered an increase in the UK VAT and the immediate outlook for consumption spending in the UK is a little less certain than previously thought.
"In these circumstances, the Tatts Group Board considers that it is prudent to review the carrying value of the Talarius asset and the directors have decided to make a non-cash impairment charge of AUD$140M.
"The revised carrying value of Talarius is AUD$180M," Tatts said.
Tatts also has reduced the value of the software used by its Maxgaming business in NSW by $25 million.
Maxgaming is an electronic gaming machine monitoring and jackpot services company.
To reassure investors, Tatts also said it would declare a fully franked dividend to be paid in 2010, and it was not expected to be less than the final dividend paid in October 2009.
The reduction in the book value of the Talarius investment and the Maxgaming software would be reflected in Tatts’ 2010 full year accounts and were not expected to materially affect future dividends.
And the Leighton Holdings affiliated Macmahon Holdings yesterday reaffirmed its full year profit guidance, but says it won’t frank its final dividend due to lower than expected tax payments.
The civil construction and mining contractor is on track to achieve a net profit after tax of $36 to $40 million, the Perth-based company said in a statement to the ASX yesterday.
The Macmahon board confirmed its target dividend payout policy of 50%, but said there would be insufficient franking credits available to frank its 2010 final dividend.
Macmahon said it has more than $2.1 billion of work on its books, with $1.2 billion of work won since the start of this year.
Macmahon shares ended steady on 56.5c yesterday.
