CNGR, time to look at this one again, prior to earnings.
From : Business Wire Jun 18 1999 10:15AM
Re : Crown Group, Inc. Opens First Casino in El Salvador; Second Casino to Open in July
Friday June 18, 11:01 AM Eastern time
Company Press Release
Crown Group, Inc. Opens First Casino in El Salvador; Second Casino to Open in July
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 1999--Crown Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNGR), today announced that its 50.1-owned subsidiary, Crown El Salvador, has opened its first casino in El Salvador. The Colonial Casino San Miguel is located in San Miguel, a city in central El Salvador with a population of approximately 500,000 persons. The casino occupies a 4,000 square-foot building and contains 80 slot machines and 11 table games.
"Initial response from customers has been extremely encouraging," stated Edward R. McMurphy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Group, Inc. "We expect Colonial Casino San Miguel to evolve into a highly popular entertainment site in San Miguel. Our second casino in El Salvador, the Colonial Casino San Salvador, is scheduled to open in mid-July. It will be a larger facility, occupying approximately 10,000 square feet in a renovated theater building, and will contain 189 slot machines and 15 table games. Colonial Casino San Salvador will be located in the city of Antiquo Cuscatlan, which is part of the metropolitan area of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. The population of the San Salvador metropolitan area approximates 2 million. Our projections anticipate that Crown should realize a return on its initial investments in these casinos which equals or exceeds the rate of return provided by our highly successful casinos in Argentina."
"Crown Group's pretax earnings from operations (before minority interests and gains on the sale of securities), which reached 2.9 million in the first nine months of fiscal 1999, are being driven primarily by our domestic automotive businesses and international gaming activities," continued McMurphy. "We are very sensitive to the risks, as well as the potential rewards, of operating in other countries, and we believe that Crown shareholders will derive substantial benefits from our casino operations in Argentina and El Salvador during the next several years."
Crown Group, Inc. seeks to enhance shareholder value through the acquisition, development and operation of small-cap companies with significant growth potential. Crown Group currently owns (i) 100 of America's Car-Mart, Inc. and 80 of PAACO Automotive Group, Inc., vertically integrated used car sales and finance companies (ii) 100 of Precision IBC, a firm specializing in the sale and rental of intermediate bulk containers (iii) 80 of Concorde Acceptance Corporation, a sub-prime mortgage lender (iv) 49 of Casino Magic Neuquen, a casino operator in the Province of Neuquen, Argentina (v) 50.1 of Crown El Salvador, which develops and operates casinos in El Salvador (vi) 80 of Home Stay Lodges, a partnership which is involved in the development and operation of extended-stay lodging facilities and (vii) 50 of Atlantic Castings, Inc., an investment castings manufacturer of turbine engine components.
Crown Group, Inc. is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its common stock is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol "CNGR."
This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe", "estimate", "project", "expect", or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those relating to the development of the Company's businesses, continued availability of lines of credit for the Company's businesses, changes in interest rates, changes in the industries in which the Company operates, competition, dependence on existing management, the stability of Argentina's and El Salvador's governments, currency exchange rate fluctuations, the repatriation of funds from Argentina and El Salvador, domestic or global economic conditions (particularly in the states of Texas and Arkansas), changes in foreign or domestic tax laws or the administration of such laws and changes in gaming or lending laws or regulations. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.
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Contact:
Edward R. McMurphy or Ed Preuss Jr., 972/717-3423
or
Investor Relations Counsel
R. Jerry Falkner CFA, 800/377-9893
(www.rjfalkner.com)
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