National Leisure’s Gaming Tables Work Hard

By Ben Wilmot - Australian Financial Review

Two pubs run by the listed National Leisure & Gaming have snared the top positions in rankings of NSW venues by gaming turnover.

National Leisure’s El Cortez Hotel in Canley Heights and the Eastwood Hotel, both in Sydney, had the highest turnovers.

National Leisure Chief Executive Andrew Jolliffe said “We now enjoy the top two positions in the state, which is wholly in line with our objectives.”

Mr Jolliffe said that the company was still not in a position to take full advantage of its potential, and would not be able to do so unless it “can prosecute a more applicably funded gaming strategy”.

Gaming giant Tabcorp Holdings is in talks about potentially acquiring National Leisure, while the interest of Woolworths, which runs 280 hotels under the Australian Leisure & Hospitably joint venture with pub baron Bruce Mathieson, is believed to have cooled.

Mr Jolliffe believed the portfolio could perform more strongly if it was able to find a strong backer.

The group has been constrained as it depends on the support of lender Bank of New Zealand Australia. It has also had to deal with its landlord, the listed Redcape Property Group, selling the freehold interests of about $100 million worth of pubs which it operates.

Redcape, formerly the Hedley Leisure & Gaming Property Fund, has been selling to pay down its own debts. National Leisure had a right of refusal to acquire most of the properties but has not taken them up.