Category Archives: Bankruptcy

There are a whole bunch of reasons why Central Grocers, a longtime area food store operator and wholesaler, recently filed for bankruptcy, but here's a big one: The traditional supermarket experience is over.

An immediate result of its Chapter 11 filing is the sale or closing of its grocery stores and the winding down of its Joliet-based warehouse operation, including firing 550 mostly blue-collar workers.

In the long run, however, this bankruptcy serves as a harsh example of the devastation that occurs when an established business does not, or cannot, adapt to changing customer appetites and the accompanying technological advances reshaping an industry.

Customers are moving away from once-a-week trips at staid neighborhood grocers to shopping anytime via online providers. When shoppers do go into a store, it's often in search of more organic products and fresh, ready-made meals.

Considering these seismic shifts, don't be surprised if other area grocery stores and chains suffer Central Grocers' fate.

"The traditional supermarket is a dinosaur and about to become extinct," contends Phil Lempert, founder of California-based Supermarket Guru, which tracks grocery store and e-commerce trends. "It's time to evolve or die."

Central Grocers' predicament is a window into the unprecedented competitive challenges facing older, independent grocery store owners and operators.

At the forefront is the relentless encroachment of deep-pocketed online rivals. It's a roster that includes titans like Amazon Fresh and Google Express; tech-based firms focused solely on delivering food; and huge grocery chains that are expanding online ordering along with store pickup or delivery.

"While the traditional, independent grocer has long faced peripheral competitive challenges from the likes of warehouse clubs, drug stores, and convenience stores, it now is losing market share to online retailers," Central Grocers stated in the bankruptcy filing.

Note the use of the term "traditional."

What's more, Central Grocers admits it couldn't keep up financially or marketingwise with growing customer cravings, such as "gourmet shopping experiences" and more natural, organic and gluten-free foods.

Another ingredient to this recipe for disaster: Food deflation, which is suppressing grocery retailers' already razor-thin profit margins.

Since 1967, the grocery retail business has enjoyed a slow but increasingly steady rise in annual prices. That is until last year, when prices dipped below 2015's level, according to government data cited in the Central Grocers' filing.

The pressure that Central Grocers felt also is going to press down on the area's hundreds of independent food chains and stores. The online onslaught is building as is consumer hunger for more specialized and custom-made shopping choices. There also will continue to be greater emphasis on providing fresh, healthy fare at food stores.

This is daunting news for cash-strapped grocery retailers.

Increasingly, they'll be pushed to expand or introduce restaurantlike capabilities and product lines, including offering meal kits and meal plans for busy people, the elderly or just folks who hate to cook.

Millennials and the Gen X generation are driving these changes, so food stores and chains will have to relate technologically to these customers or risk losing them.

"They are smarter shoppers than we have ever experienced and see no difference between buying online or in a physical store," says Lempert, the food retailing expert.

In the meantime, a beleaguered Central Grocers is winding through federal bankruptcy court. (The company declined to comment, referring questions to an outside public relations firm.)

With assets of $262 million against liabilities of $232 million, the cooperative is hoping to secure debtor-in-possession financing to keep it going during the bankruptcy process.

As the Tribune reported, the company intends to sell 19 of its Strack & Van Til stores. It also plans to close nine of its Ultra chain stores along with the 1 million-square-foot Joliet warehouse, unless buyers emerge to acquire these assets during the bankruptcy process.

The company's reign as a food cooperative is drawing to a close after almost 100 years in business. It distributed food and some private-label products wholesale to 400 independent grocers scattered throughout city neighborhoods and the region.

Those stores and small grocery chains are now scrambling to get new suppliers. But finding a replacement for Central Grocers is only one of the big changes in store for them.

roreed@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Reedtribbiz

Read this article:

Food co-op's bankruptcy signals trouble for independent grocers - Chicago Tribune

WILMINGTON, Del. Puerto Rico will begin its bankruptcy proceedings on May 17 in San Juan with a series of requests for managing the case as the commonwealth begins the process of restructuring its $70 billion in debt, according to court filing on Tuesday.

Puerto Rico's federally appointed financial oversight board on May 3 filed the debt restructuring petition under Title III of last year's U.S. Congressional rescue law known as PROMESA. While the initial filing was limited to obligations of the central government, it was still the largest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy, dwarfing that of Detroit.

Two days later, the oversight board sought bankruptcy protection for debt backed by sales tax revenues, known as COFINA.

The bankruptcy will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York, who was appointed by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.

The commonwealth has asked Swain to issue orders for case management, such as notifying its creditors and hiring a firm to manage claims, according to court filings.

Bankruptcy may not immediately change the day-to-day lives of Puerto Rico's people, 45 percent of whom live in poverty, but it could lead to cuts in pensions and worker benefits and a reduction in health and education services.

The island's economy has been in recession for nearly a decade, and has a current unemployment rate of about 11 percent.

The bankruptcy process will also give Puerto Rico the legal ability to impose drastic discounts on creditor recoveries, but could also spook investors and prolong the island's lack of access to debt markets.

Prices for the commonwealth's benchmark general obligation bonds 74514LE86=MSRB fell to a record low on Tuesday of 58.45.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

U.S. stocks trimmed losses on Thursday, but were still on track for their biggest one-day fall in nearly a month due to declines in retail and bank shares.

LONDON Sovereign investors are sinking more money into tech start-ups and opening offices in Silicon Valley in the hope of bagging a "unicorn" - the rare private firm that grows in value to over $1 billion.

WASHINGTON U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross sees the U.S. semiconductor industry as still dominant globally but said he is worried that it will be threatened by Chinas planned investment binge to build up its own chipmaking industry.

See the rest here:

Puerto Rico's first bankruptcy hearing set for May 17 - Reuters

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court issued an order confirming NephroGenexs modified Plan of Reorganization. As previously reported, The total number of shares of stock which the corporation is authorized to issue is $5,000 shares of common stock, having a par value of $0.001 per share.To the extent prohibited by Section 1123 of title 11 of the United States Code, as amended, the corporation shall not issue any class or series of nonvoting stock; provided, however that the foregoing (i) will have no further force and effect beyond that required under Section 1123 of the Bankruptcy Code, (ii) will have such force and effect, if any, only for so long as such Section 1123 is in effect and applicable to the corporation and (iii) may be amended or eliminated in accordance with applicable law as from time to time in effect.The Trustee shall be compensated in the amount of $5,000 per month, until the Chapter 11 Case has been closed and $200 per month thereafter.

In addition, The Debtor projected that, under the Liquidating Plan, the Debtors unsecured creditors would receive distributions equal to 26.8% to 37.1% of the allowed amounts of their claims.Medpace has agreed to waive its Cash Distribution under the Plan and exchange its General Unsecured Claim against the Debtor in the amount of $4,312,698.51 (the Medpace Claim) for one hundred percent (100%) of the New Common Stock in the Reorganized Debtor. The Medpace Claim is by far the largest Claim against the Debtors estate and comprises at least 65% of the pool of General Unsecured Claims. As a result of the contemplated restructuring under the Plan, Holders of Allowed General Unsecured Claims are projected to receive a 46.4% to 50.4% recovery on their Claims which is a material improvement over the 26.8% to 37.1% projected recovery under the Debtors Liquidating Plan.

This drug development company filed for Chapter 11 protection on April 30, 2016, listing $23 million in pre-petition assets.

Read more bankruptcy news.

Follow this link:

NephroGenex Bankruptcy Plan Confirmed - Bankrupt Company News (press release) (blog)

The company once hailed as Europes largest solar panel producer filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, blaming cheap Chinese panels for flooding the market.

The ongoing price erosion and the development of the business has left the company over-indebted and thus obliged to file for insolvency proceedings, SolarWorld, which is also the largest U.S. solar panel maker, said in a statement.

The filing comes after SolarWorld was forced to lay off employees earlier this year. The company employs around 3,000 people, including 800 in Hillsboro, Oregon, and was one of the few German-based solar companies to survive a recent market downturn.

SolarWorld is only the latest bankrupt solar company to blame the Chinese. U.S.-based Suniva Inc. filed for bankruptcy in April, also citing stiff competition from Chinese solar panel makers.

Suniva even asked the Trump administration to increase tariffs against Chinese solar panel imports. SolarWorld backed the call, saying China has found ways to circumvent current tariffs.

The case of Suniva dramatically demonstrates that the U.S. solar manufacturing industry still suffers from unfair trade, Juergen Stein, U.S. president of SolarWorld, said in a statement.

China now has managed to circumvent and violate existing trade defense measures in several ways and again incited a ruinous price race to the bottom, destroying U.S. manufacturing jobs, Stein said.

Not everyone in the solar industry agrees increased tariffs would be a good thing. The U.S. company Sunnova sent a letter to the U.S. trade commission arguing the imposition of tariffs on solar cells and panels will significantly harm the U.S. economy by destroying jobs.

The Obama administration imposed tariffs up to 35 percent on solar panel products imported from certain Chinese manufacturers. The 2014 doesnt seem to have drastically changed the overall industrys economics.

The solar industrys biggest problem is likely the very mechanism that led to its rise: lucrative subsidies.

European subsidies, mostly in Germany, led to a massive expansion of the companies green energy industry, but eventually subsidies became their undoing as cheaper solar panels from China began to win out.

Cuts to subsidies in Europe only made things worse for the solar industry, furthering ensuring cheap Chinese panels would win out. A similar story played out in the U.S. where lucrative federal and state subsidies spurred green energy.

SolarWorld has gotten a whopping $115 million in federal and state grants and tax subsidies since 2012, according to the Union-backed group Good Jobs First. And thats on top of the nearly $91 million in federal loan guarantees the company got during that time.

Solarworld lost 80 percent of its stock value after it announced bankruptcy filings Wednesday.

Follow Michael on Facebook and Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [emailprotected].

See more here:

Largest US Solar Panel Maker Files For Bankruptcy After Receiving $206 Million In Subsidies - The Daily Caller

May 9, 2017, 12:00 p.m.

Abby Lee Miller, the Pennsylvania dance instructor who rose to prominence on Lifetime's "Dance Moms," was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges of bankruptcy fraud in June.

The reality television star was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, in addition to being fined $40,000 and ordered to pay a $120,000 judgment.

Miller's saga began in October 2015 when she was charged with hiding nearly $800,000 of income while going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings between 2012 and 2013.

Further, Miller was accused of smuggling $120,000 in Australian currency into the country without declaring it at customs as is mandated.

Prison is likely to be a stark wake-up call for the woman who built a brand out of screaming at young girls for not meeting her exacting standards. Derision for Miller's teaching style aside, "Dance Moms" did give the world tiny Sia avatar Maddie Ziegler.

As for the fate of the series, Miller left the show in March, with "Dancing With the Stars" alum Cheryl Burke taking her place for the conclusion of Season 7.

It's unclear whether Lifetime will renew the series for an eighth season.

Follow this link:

Former 'Dance Moms' star Abby Lee Miller sentenced to prison for bankruptcy fraud - Los Angeles Times

City leaders have taken a step toward bankruptcy, soliciting proposals from law firms that specialize in Chapter 9, which protects financially strapped municipalities.

The city is reviewing several firms and could hire an attorney as early as this week, sources with knowledge of the plans said.

Mayor Luke Bronin has hinted for months that Hartford could file for bankruptcy, and said during his budget release in April that he was "not in a position to rule anything out." He could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

Hartford faces a $65 million deficit next year and a $14 million shortfall this year. Bronin has proposed cuts and concessions from the unions, but is still seeking $40 million in additional state aid to close next year's budget gap. The city resorted to short-term borrowing to cover costs such as payroll payments this year.

Council President Thomas "TJ" Clarke II, who was briefed by Bronin on the prospect of hiring a bankruptcy lawyer, called the move premature.

"I was told it was possible that a decision would be made before the end of this week," Clarke said Tuesday. "It's premature. We haven't exhausted every option and every avenue for us to go down this road."

Bronin has stressed that the state must be a partner in pulling Hartford from the brink of financial ruin, noting that more than half of the city's properties are tax-exempt and that Hartford has limited options for revenue. But the state has its own problems, with a more than $2 billion budget gap estimated for next year and it is unclear whether there is support in the General Assembly for bailing out Hartford.

Talk of bankruptcy has fanned tensions between the mayor and city council. Several council members said they are against the approach, and have advocated for alternatives, such as taxes on nonprofits or the consolidation of services with Hartford's board of education. Clarke on Monday suggested a citywide hiring freeze, though new police officers and firefighters would be exempt.

Lawmakers from Hartford met with council members at the state's legislative office building Tuesday to discuss the city's dire outlook.

Councilwoman Cynthia Jennings asked for a review of how bankruptcy would affect the region.

"We don't need a summary or a study," House Majority Leader Matthew Ritter, D-Hartford, replied. "Hartford going bankrupt would be the most catastrophic financial thing that ever happened in the state of Connecticut."

Ritter said legislators are trying to rally support for Hartford.

"We will try everything in our power to hit the $40 million target," he said. "It keeps us up at night as much as it keeps you up at night and going bankrupt would be terrible for the city. It would be terrible for the state. It's not something that any of us want to see and we're going to work very hard to make sure it doesn't happen."

Clarke said that if the city proceeds with hiring an attorney, the council will look to retain its own lawyer. A key question members want answered is whether the mayor must get the council's approval to file for bankruptcy.

The state statute covering municipal bankruptcy says that a city or town must receive consent from the governor, and that the governor "shall submit a report to the treasurer and the joint standing committee of the general assembly." It doesn't clarify whether a mayor needs the council's approval.

Hartford wouldn't be the first city in Connecticut to seek Chapter 9 protection. Bridgeport filed for bankruptcy in 1991, but a federal judge dismissed the petition, saying the city was capable of paying its bills.

Other cities that have filed include Detroit, Stockton and San Bernardino, Calif., and nearby Central Falls, R.I.

More:

Hartford Moves Closer to Bankruptcy, Soliciting Proposals From Law Firms - Hartford Courant

Last Wednesday, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, created by Congress last year, formally requested the appointment of a federal judge to oversee bankruptcy proceedings for the indebted U.S. territory. The proceedings are authorized under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016 (PROMESA).

The well-choreographed move fits into the larger sequence of events intended in PROMESA. A 10-month stay on litigation against the government of Puerto Rico expired last Monday, precipitating a rush to the courthouse by creditors. But with initiation of the Title III bankruptcy proceedings, the stay goes back into place, putting the lawsuits on ice for another 120 days.

His encouragement was unnecessary. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell had sent a request to initiate Title III a few minutes before Weiss took the stage. By the end of the day, the Oversight Board had approved and filed the governors request.

The 10-month stay improved Puerto Ricos position at the bargaining table. It froze debt payments, so Puerto Rico could default on $2 billion since PROMESA was signed. The stay also allowed Puerto Rican voters time to choose a new governor to guide them through the process and to preemptively initiate reforms. Finally, the governor and the board agreed on a fiscal plan under cover of the stay.

The governors first draft of a fiscal plan called for repaying $1.2 billion of the approximately $3 billion per year owed to creditors. The Oversight Board rejected that plan as too optimistic, and they approved one that budgets $800 million a year in repayments. The plan also calls for a 10 percent cut to pension outlays by 2020.

PROMESA stipulates that the governors fiscal plan will guide bankruptcy proceedings. If Title III survives court challenges brought by bond insurers, then the size of the creditors pie is fixed, at least for the next several years, and the judges job is to dole out the scraps.

One section of PROMESA remains little used. Title VI provided for mostly-voluntary agreements between creditors and the government. But, as Rachel Greszler and I wrote in 2016, collective action clauses are little comfort to a creditor facing an oversight board with a fiscal plan of its own and the power to enforce it with the normal legal process sidelined.

Among the creditors, the big winners are those who lent to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the islands public electric utility. PREPA was the canary in the coal mine, and its creditors organized themselves early and had the structure of a voluntary debt restructuring reached before PROMESA was drafted. Negotiations continued through April, resulting in an agreement (pending Oversight Board approval) that would give creditors 85 cents on the dollar.

The contrast between the PREPA deal which was largely worked out under existing law prior to PROMESA and the likely fate of creditors of other public utilities is instructive. Existing law provided tough but fair discipline for publicly owned corporations that did not pay their debts. They could go into receivership or even be privatized. In the case of the electric utility, reform means cutting off freeloading customers, stopping paychecks to absentee workers, and developing public-private partnerships for power generation.

In the Title III process, however, the other indebted utilities will get to default on more of their debt, and reform will be filtered through the political process. That serves the people of Puerto Rico poorly. Politics has meant patronage for the few and poor service for the many. While PROMESA averted lawsuits, it also averted some badly-needed reforms. As Gov. Rossell himself said at The Heritage Foundation last week, If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, you need to ask yourself if the government should be doing it.

Under PROMESA, the governor will be fighting an uphill battle against entrenched political interests wherever he tries to shrink the bureaucracy or privatize a service that belongs in the Yellow Pages. Without PROMESA, creditors would have forced the issue.

Puerto Ricos slow dance of default may continue for years as creditors battle the Oversight Board in local and federal courts. Bond markets will watch that fight with interest. Others, however, are already turning to the key player: Gov. Rossell.

He can give Puerto Rico a chance of success by building on early reforms to labor markets and construction permitting and by delivering on his campaign promise to shrink the governments 131 agencies down to a svelte 40. Introducing him last week, I said he had the hardest job in politics. It is not about to get easier.

Salim Furth is a research fellow specializing in macroeconomics at The Heritage Foundations Center for Data Analysis.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

See the rest here:

Puerto Rico's bankruptcy is the next step in its slow dance of default - The Hill (blog)

Maurie Backman, The Motley Fool 4:02 p.m. ET May 5, 2017

When we think about consumer debt, we tend to point a finger at folks for whom shopping sprees are a way of life. But the real reason a large number of Americans wind up in financial trouble has nothing to do with self-indulgence or an inability to resist temptation. Rather, it's a matter of medical debt.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), more than a quarter of U.S. adults struggle to pay their medical bills. This includes folks who have insurance, whether independently or through an employer. In fact, medical debt is the No. 1 source of personal bankruptcy filings in the U.S., and in 2014, an estimated 40% of Americans racked up debt resulting from a medical issue.

Now it's not shocking to learn that countless Americans struggle with medical debt, but whatissurprising is the extent to which insured individuals have trouble keeping up. Last year, TheNew York Timesreported that 20% of Americans under 65 with health insurance had trouble paying their medical bills over the past year. Of those, 63% claim to have used up all or most of their savings to tackle their healthcare expenses, while 42% took on an extra job to cover their costs.

Unfortunately, having health insurance in no way guarantees that you won't fall victim to medical debt. But if you take steps to build an emergency fund, you'll be better protected in the face of an unanticipated bill.

A big reason so many people wind up in debt over medical issues is that they don't have adequate savings to cover an unexpected cost. According to a recent GoBankingRates survey, 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, while 34% have no money in the bank whatsoever. But there's a reason we're all advised to sock away enough savings to cover three to six months' worth of living expenses. Even those of us with insurance are vulnerable in the face of a costly injury or illness, and without ample savings, collectively, we're taking a pretty big risk.

That said, there are things you can do to ramp up your savings, which can help you avoid medical debt that might ultimately result in bankruptcy. For starters, create a budget so you can accurately track your spending and identify ways to cut corners. Next, reduce your spending for all categories that aren't essential living expenses. These include leisure, restaurant meals, and even cable (you can probably downgrade your current package and still enjoy your share of TV).

If that doesn't do the trick, then you'll need to consider more significant changes, such as downsizing your living space, unloading a vehicle, or working a side job to generate extra income. The key is to save up enough money so you're protected at all times.

Now you may be thinking: "So what if I end up filing for bankruptcy as a result of medical debt?" But here are some things you ought to know about bankruptcy. First, it stays on your record for 10 years, during which time you may have difficulty renting an apartment, getting an auto loan, or even finding a job. That's a long time to be saddled with a glaring financial disadvantage.

Second, one of the most ironic things about bankruptcy is that it costs money -- a lot of money -- to file. Because the bankruptcy code is complex, you'll need to hire a lawyer, and any filing fees you incur will be passed directly to you.

RELATED:

How Trump's plans to curb financial protections may affect you

10 retirement stats that will blow you away

3 medical debt mistakes to avoid

Furthermore, there's no obvious distinction between filing for bankruptcy as a result of medical debt versus reckless spending. A bankruptcy filing on your record is a black mark regardless of why it happened, and when you apply for a new line of credit, your lender won't necessarily care or know the difference.

Tempting as it may be to look at bankruptcy as a fallback option when your medical expenses get out of control, a better bet is to work on building your savings and hope it suffices in helping you cover your costs. Another option? Examine your health insurance plan more closely and see if it makes sense to pay a higher premium for more comprehensive coverage. In some cases, you'll come out way ahead by opting for a costlier plan that offers better benefits and lower copayments and deductibles.

Finally, don't neglect health issues in their early stages, because that's when they're typically the easiest and least expensive to treat. The longer you wait to address a medical problem, the greater your risk of having it escalate into a series of bills you just can't keep up with.

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

Offer from the Motley Fool: The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2peqDlh

Read the rest here:

This is the No. 1 reason Americans file for bankruptcy - USA TODAY

"If it is reorganization, a new deal and a change you are seeing, it is Hobson's Choice. I am sorry for you but it is really vote for me or not vote at all"

- Woodrow Wilson

Let's face it: were you Caesars Entertainment's (NASDAQ: CZR) newly minted CEO Mark Frissora, preparing for a 1Q17 earnings call conference, the only logical footwear you could reasonably be expected to wear to the party would be tap-dancing shoes. Leading the once iconic casino company focused on the day to day business as it struggles through a bankruptcy war with its bondholders, you'd be left with little other choice. Lawyers gleefully logging mega-hours through the maelstrom understandably warned management to stay muzzled about the future. Just run the place. Make happy talk, cut costs, don't you dare breathe a word about a Caesars that could emerge on the other side of bankruptcy late this summer two and a half years after the original filing.

The idea is, get the doors open every day, staff the casinos right, make sure the buffet line doesn't get too long, get the dated rooms upgraded, reinforce a culture of strong customer service when employees are worried about their jobs. So, if shareholders expected anything but a nice buck and wing out of management during the earnings call, they were bound to be disappointed.

But that is exactly what Frissora and company have done. Even within the legal strictures of what is prudent to talk about post bondholder deal, the earnings release at best was thin gruel.

CZR is still a Tinkertoy construction until the exit

It is to be remembered that CZR is a jerry-built cluster of subsidiaries cobbled together pre-bankruptcy by the company, it asserted, to protect its asset base. In the company's view, it was perfectly legal. In a court appointed investigator's opinion, it was at best borderline, if not a demonstrably, fishy construct. But many parts of that Three-Card-Monte game of asset shuffles remains in place today and will remain until the company finally emerges out of bankruptcy into two projected entities: An OpCo that will operate all the company's casino assets, and a PropCo REIT that will own all its realty controlled by bondholders.

Now that the bondholders have finally made nice with the company and its private equity owners Apollo Global and TPG, investors need to begin attempting to envision a post-bankruptcy Caesars that can be valued beyond the framework of the OpCo/PropCo split already public.

Let's begin with a capsule glance at the key elements of the May 2nd 1Q17 earnings release:

Net revenues: $2 billion, up 1% YoY.

Adjusted EBITDA: $551 million, up 1% YoY.

Adjusted EBITDA margins: 26.9%, up 64 bps YoY.

The centerpiece of the glad Q1 tidings really has a single high note:

There was strong cash ADR growth on the hotel side due to a price raise and what management ascribed to a room renovation program that had made company properties more competitive and thus able to gain pricing power:

ADR GROWTH

1Q16: $143

1Q17: $159, up YoY 11%.

OCCUPANCY:

1Q16: 83.81%

1Q17: 84.8%, up 1% YoY. This is fine, but it fundamentally means very little in a single quarter. Yet it is fair to state that management drawing a straight line between improved ADR and occupancy and its large scale renovation program is valid. Management expects that by the end of 2017 more than 50% of the CZR Las Vegas portfolio will have been upgraded since 2014. Nationally, throughout the current Caesars system 7,000 rooms will be renovated.

Market share of Las Vegas gaming volume, however, was flat:

1Q16: 25%

1Q17: 25.2%

The quarter was adversely bruised by a low hold percentage, which shaved an estimated $15 to $20 million from revenue, well above the expected normalized number of $10 million. Unless your casino floor is populated by turtle-like dealers, too much dated slot product, etc., hold percentage always lies in the realm of the gaming gods. Nobody's fault.

This is good news, but as with all reports of quarterly ADR up or down in the casino industry, they aren't indicative of long-term trends. There are so many factors that can impact ADR over a short time frame that the number, while positive, really doesn't lend much insight into the state of the nation, as it were.

INNOVATIONS: Skill-based games are under test at Planet Hollywood, Harrah's Tahoe and Harrah's Southern California. Results from our sources: Far too early to call, nothing great, nothing terrible so far. A panacea? Probably not. Will it take time to make a sound judgment call? Yes, it will.

FRONT DESK KIOSKS: Caesars is testing express check in and check out kiosks in selected properties and early results are encouraging. Waiting times have been reduced 40%. Expect this to expand.

VEGAS SUPPLY OUTLOOK: As of now, it would appear that no major additions to room supply fall within the short or intermediate term to challenge the two mega-multi-property operators, CZR and MGM (NYSE:MGM). The Fontainebleau project, launched in 2007, is still a sitting structural eyesore. Carl Icahn has bought the property in bankruptcy for $150 million against its projected $2 billion cost. He's agreed to cloak the building with a cover to reduce the eyesore factor. Alon Las Vegas has made zero progress. And even the most logical potential entrant of all, Genting's Resorts World Asia-themed property - announced in 2015 - has since moved little beyond shoveling dirt from one pile to another. Steve Wynn has moved his Paradise Park outdoor lagoon project to a master plan of sequenced opening, going ahead with his waterside attractions and amenities but holding back on the originally planned 1,000 room addition.

All this confirms our view that both occupancy and ADRs in Las Vegas will have a firm support base against projected visitation of between 43 and 45 million to the 2020 out years. This lends support to the projection by CZR that at least its Las Vegas portfolio room valuations are fairly solid.

But other than that core metric, there was very little in the earnings call signal to present a sensible entry point on the stock at its current price. Against this we have a one-year analyst price target at $13 against a current market cap of $1.6 billion. The most news about the Q1 CZR earnings release was that there was essentially no news.

Yet the stock has moved.

Nearly six months ago the shares were trading at $7.15 and now, at this writing, it's $11.15 - up 55%. Its 52-week range is $5.39 to $11.83, up 55%.

Yet we have this continuing flow of earnings reports that fundamentally tell us very little other than that Frissora and & Co. are doing their best to slash costs, fine, renovate rooms, fine, and keep employees smiling nice. All that is for the good, all that is under orders from the phalanxes of suspendered lawyers for management to just tend to its knitting.

So, why has the stock moved, where is it going and should you be a buyer, seller or holder now?

The company maintains a 65% institutional ownership profile spread among 113 holders. Of these, 68 transactions indicated increases in holdings, 39 decreased and 24 stood still. Topping the list is private equity holder Apollo Global with 26.4 million shares. This would appear to support the idea that despite the blistering Chapter 11 wars with the juniors, most institutional holders remain believers. This could be out of the conviction that the asset base will emerge shorn of over $10 billion in debt and will have to be valued up by the market.

Or, conversely, there is some opinion that the bondholders, who will essentially own control of the company post-bankruptcy, will be hanging up the for-sale sign on many of the company's laggards, particularly in the many soft-revenue regions in which they operate.

This school of thought posits the following, as expressed to me by a bond trader friend who has in the past owned lots of casino debt. He first asked me, as an industry person, to look over the portfolio in terms of existing properties, the market trends in which they operate and the prospects for those properties going forward.

Right now, CZR owns 34 properties nationally, manages another 7 and has an additional 8 properties scattered throughout the UK and Egypt. "Assume they all wind up in the PropCo REIT. How many are viable in your view?" he asked. "Look at it like a gaming guy, not a realty evaluator."

My answer: I think we will see a case for serious consideration by the new ownership group to offload whatever they can. I don't see a fire sale, but a concentrated effort to lighten up the portfolio. The circumstances that supported the idea of a massive chain of US regional casinos popping up in every nook and cranny where gaming was legal is an idea whose time has come and gone.

And the guy who built on that idea, former CEO Gary Loveman, is gone as well. He saw Caesars as a massive system linked by the highly successful Total Rewards program database that literally would chain customers to visit a Caesars property wherever they lived or traveled because they could generate points. That worked for a while, but it couldn't survive the undertow of recession and increasing competition from smart operators.

My take: I see 10 Nevada properties as solid, another 5 strongly situated regionally and the rest varying from marginal to questionable in the longer term. The industry is headed toward regional consolidation either through the REIT structure or mergers. The timing is good for Caesars to do deals with strong regional operators with the balance sheets and operating smarts to acquire many of its properties. And I sense that is, without a doubt, an option the new bondholder/ownership group will need to entertain.

By unloading properties that will either fall into its REIT or remain owned and operated at sensible prices over time, CZR will be enabled to strengthen its balance sheet with both cash as well as the debt relief already in hand. It will be so strengthened that it will be in position to compete for a place in Asia, where it so badly missed the boat in the early 2000s.

My call

I think the CZR that was pre-bankruptcy has no reason to be in the gaming sector as it exists today. The economic collapse of 2007/8 was beyond its control, and the idea of gobbling up companies and properties willy-nilly just to feed the database was fine for a while, but the latter went wildly out of control.

A new post-bankruptcy CZR - bringing to the table one of the world's great gaming names, as well as a clutch of really good properties shrunken to fit its financial capacities and of a size lending itself to better management controls of the type that CEO Frissora is attempting to ignite now - could be a stock worth owning at the current entry point. But since nobody can read in the tolerance level of a bondholder, nor now know what the new management or its people will want to do, we have to conclude that somewhere between its current price and perhaps $15, CZR could be a buy for investors undaunted by a guessing game until summer.

If management seems to be clinging to the idea of a post-bankruptcy Caesars that is merely a pre-bankruptcy Caesars shorn of $10 billion in debt with no prospects of portfolio reduction in many of the weaker markets it now operates in, it's time to sell.

Beyond that it's either a hold, or given the other opportunities in the sector with strong regionals and global leaders poised for the big Japan moves later this year, it's a sell if you can take some money off the table now.

Author's note: My own gaming portfolio is held in a blind trust for my children and grandchildren so as to avoid any potential conflicts of interest with casino consulting clients, past, present or future.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Follow this link:

Caesars: Poised For A Takeoff Or A Rocky Post-Bankruptcy Landing This Summer? - Seeking Alpha

Forbes

RBI Gets More Power Over Indian Bank NPAs - Bankruptcy An Essential Part Of Market System Forbes As I've pointed out before bankruptcy is an essential part of any market based economic system. And as I've also pointed out non-market economic systems do not work. We've thus the insistence that a decent bankruptcy system is essential to the ... New ordinance empowers RBI to direct banks to initiate insolvency, bankruptcy against NPAsTimes Now all 298 news articles »

View post:

RBI Gets More Power Over Indian Bank NPAs - Bankruptcy An Essential Part Of Market System - Forbes