Crown Ltd.’s second-half loss widened after Australia’s biggest casino owner wrote down its stakes in five North American operators bought just as the worst recession since the 1930s hit. Cr
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own’s net loss was A$788 million ($651 million) in the six months ended June, compared with a loss of A$76 million a year earlier. The result was derived by subtracting first-half earnings from the record A$1.2 billion full-year loss the Melbourne-based company reported today. Chairman James Packer led a $3 billion expansion into North American since 2006, a move Chief Executive Officer Rowen Craigie described today as “ill-timed.” Gambling on the Las Vegas Strip slumped 15 percent in the 12 months ended June, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, with Crown writing down the value of four investments to zero. The charges end “a disastrous chapter in Crown’s history,” Jenny Owen, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., said in a note to clients today. “The indigestion from the foray into U.S. gaming will persist,” said Owen, who rates the stock “hold.”Crown cut 88 percent off the value of its investment in Cannery Casino Resorts LLC and wrote off its holdings in Stations Casinos, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, Canada’s Gateway Casino Income Fund and Fontainebleau Resorts LLC.
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