Someone from Crown Resorts has been named CEO of Star Entertainment.

Someone from Crown Resorts has been named CEO of Star Entertainment.

Someone from Crown Resorts has been named CEO of Star Entertainment.

 Steve McCann, who used to be the CEO of Crown Resorts, has been named the new group CEO and managing director of Star Entertainment Group.
 Zeal chair von Schmettow McCann will start his new job as CEO of Star on July 8, as long as the government approves it.

 Robbie Cooke, who left the job in March but kept working as a consultant while Star looked for a new one, is replaced by him.  While Anne Ward, who was just named chair, took on more duties, Neale O'Connell, who was interim group chief financial officer, has been working as CEO.

 McCann is a seasoned executive who has held a number of high-level jobs over the course of his 28-year career.  The 18 months he spent as managing director of Crown from May 2021 to September 2022 are the most important for Star.

 Before this, he worked for over 15 years at Lendlease, a company that builds and invests in real estate.  Among these were more than ten years as its group CEO,

 In the early part of his work, he also held top positions at ABN AMRO and Bankers Trust.

 McCann joins Star at a "very important" moment.
 McCann said that he is joining Star at a "critical" time for the business when he talked about his new job.  He also says that he is determined to restore trust in the operation.

 McCann said, "I know that the company has to deal with a lot of difficult problems and issues."  "I'm committed to working with the board and all the other important people to bring about change, rebuild trust, and find a long-term solution."

 Chair Ward also looks forward to McCann's coming.  She says that the Star board is happy to have hired a CEO like McCann.

 Ward said, "Given his time with Crown and his long history of leadership at Lendlease, he has the right credentials to lead Star's remediation program."  "His track record shows that he can work together with many different groups of people and lead transformational change and cultural renewal that matters." 

 "This experience is very helpful as we work to restore trust and speed up Star's long-term change for the better."

 Getting people to trust Star again
 In the past few years, Star has taken a lot of hits from government regulations.  McCann and Ward both agree that a lot of work needs to be done to get people to trust Star again.

 The New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) has confirmed that Star is being looked into again. This may be the most recent important event.  Adam Bell SC will be in charge of this. He was in charge of the first Bell report as well. 

 Ward will talk about how Star has put the suggestions from the first review into action.  In September 2022, the group was told they couldn't have a gambling licence in New South Wales because of a long list of problems with fighting money laundering and being socially responsible. 

 The second investigation began in February, and the final report was sent out last month.  Information about this has not yet been made public.

 In other recent regulatory news, Queensland authorities said last month that they would be delaying a planned suspension of Star's licence for another month. 

 The state banned the group in December 2022 because of a number of problems.  It was given a $10 million fine and told that its licence could be taken away if it couldn't show that it was fit to hold one.  Star was given a year to fix its problems, with the first due date being December 1, 2023.

 However, this was pushed back to May 31, 2018, after Star turned in a draft plan to fix the problems.  Last month, the government put this off again because they wanted to see the second Bell Inquiry before making a final decision. 

 Star's sales will go down for the whole year
 Star also said this week that it is going to report a drop in full-year income because the last 12 months have been "challenging." 

 Star thinks that its sales for the year ending June 30 will be between AU$1.68bn (£879.6m/€1.04bn/US$1.11bn) and $1.69bn.  At the high end of this figure, they would be 11.1% behind the $1.90bn they made in FY23.

 Star talks about "challenging" trade conditions that have been going on all year.  It also talks about higher operating costs because of actions like fixing and changing things, as well as more resources being used in risk and control roles.

 Because of this, Star also thinks that adjusted EBITDA will go down.  This will be between $165 million and $180 million, with the higher amount being 43.2% less than the same time last year.

 Star made the prediction because the fourth quarter is ending this week.  Also, not much is expected for the last quarter. Revenue is expected to drop 3.3% year-over-year and 4.3% quarter-over-quarter.

 Star talked about possible asset sales when talking about plans for the future.  These are the Treasury casino, hotel, and parking lot, and talks are already going on about a deal.  Star may also sell some other, less important assets. More information will be available when the company releases its FY24 numbers later this year.