Ban impact questioned days ago

SkyCity's confidence in its smoking ban predictions was questioned a week-and-a-half ago in a report by Macquarie Equities analyst Steve Wheen.

He said a significant deterioration in charities' gaming revenues had shown SkyCity was underestimating effects of the ban.

Asked about Wheen's report, a company spokeswoman told the Business Herald on May 2 that the impact of the December smokefree regulations had been significant.

"SkyCity's experience, however, has not been significantly different to our initial projections. It remains too early to predict the future impact of the ban." Asked what information had since come to light, chief executive Evan Davies said yesterday: "A week and a-half of financial information."

A fund manager said analysts believed the company could have told the market earlier about the effects of the smoking ban.

"It does their credibility no good."