Pressure mounts on Gala Coral as debt rises to £4.4bn

LONDON, England -- As reported by the Guardian: "Gambling group Gala Coral, one of Britain's largest private equity-owned employers, has seen losses more than treble as trading at its casino and bingo divisions has continued to slow sharply leaving the business straining to service its huge debts.

"Despite an additional £124m cash injection from private equity backers Permira, Cinven and Candover during the year, the company today published figures showing a pre-tax loss for the 12 months to September 27 of £397m. Much of the losses were made up of writedowns and redundancy costs as the group closed about 10% of its bingo clubs and casinos. More cost cutting and job losses are planned for coming months.

"The company's net debt at the year-end rose to £4.4bn, compared with £4.2bn 12 months earlier.

"....Debt investors, who dominate Gala's ownership structure, are closely assessing the group's capacity to service its debt..."