Main Event re-enters loss position
Published:Wednesday | June 16, 2021 | 12:08 AM
Main Event Entertainment Group Limited returned to losses in the April quarter, amid continued restrictions on the entertainment sector. But the company is still trying to strike a positive tone, saying it had high hopes for future business.
The events promoter reported losses of $27.6 million, nearly doubling the losses of $15.8 million reported in the comparative April 2020 period. Revenue fell to $174 million from $287 million.
“While business activity and sales volumes continue to be low, our ambitions are extremely high. We have been exploring new opportunities that we believe will bring us deeper global connections and greater business synergies, as our industry and the world slowly recovers from the pandemic,” the company said in a statement prefacing the financial report. Main Event is led by CEO Solomon Sharpe, while Dr Ian Blair is acting chairman.
Among its prospects to grow income, the company said it’s getting ready to do a regional roll-out of M Academy services. The division offers technical training in events management.
The losses in April erased a small profit of $8 million in the February quarter, leading to a six-month or half-year loss of $19.5 million. Revenue for the period plunged to $349 million over six months, a near two-third decline from $885 million in the comparative period ending April 2020.
Two weeks ago, Sharpe told a panel at the Mayberry Virtual Investors Forum series hosted by brokerage Mayberry Investments Limited that more than half of the entertainment sector was either bankrupt or out of work.
“50 per cent is in bad shape; they are in really, really bad shape,” he said.
“I set up my operation to be a fun space. We provided 100 lunches a day to staff and now it’s down to maybe 10 for the critical persons in the small office. … We had to downsize. We had to shrink or die – even myself,” he said.
The Government is in discussion with the entertainment sector regarding the protocols for a limited reopening of the industry during the summer.