Casino operator reports loss

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003 | 9:38 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Donald Trump's Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., which owns casinos in New Jersey and Indiana, today said its fourth-quarter loss widened.

Trump Hotels had a loss of $17.3 million, or 78 cents a share, compared with a loss of $10.2 million, or 46 cents, a year earlier. Revenue at the Atlantic City-based company rose 1 percent to $283.1 million, Treasurer John Burke said.

Cash flow -- or earnings before depreciation, amortization, write downs, non-recurring debt renegotiation costs and corporate expenses -- increased to $64 million from $62.8 million, improving the chances Trump will be able to sell $470 million of bonds to repay higher-interest rate debt, analysts said.

Trump canceled a planned sale of bonds in May after investors demanded a yield of about 13 percent, higher than Trump was willing to pay. Trump has since said he wants to try again to sell the bonds early this year.

The company reduced the value of Casino Redevelopment Authority deposits by $14.4 million after the state requested the funds for a development project. Casinos in New Jersey set aside 1.25 percent of their gambling revenue for projects in the state, the company said.

The company owns the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza and Trump Marina in Atlantic City, and the Trump Indiana riverboat casino on Lake Michigan.