Cruising despite loss
ASF Consortium shows an uncanny ability to power on, regardless of hefty deficits along the way
THE year that is 2017 is proving far from a stunner for ASF, the group that has discovered that you don’t have to visit a casino to lose millions on the Gold Coast.
The bad news – it has lost more than $12 million in its latest June 30 year on its lead role in stymied plans for an integrated resort on the Southport Spit.
That money is part of an allup $19.5 million deficit, one which has taken ASF’s total losses over the past five years to close to $80 million.
Some of that earlier red ink spilt on to the balance sheet as a result of the earlier vetoed plans by ASF Consortium for a Wavebreak Island resort and cruise-ship project. ASF’s Wavebreak partners were what it called two 900-pound gorillas (giant state-owned Chinese groups) and one, China State Construction, stayed aboard for the Spit plan.
The 2017 bad news for ASF isn’t restricted to the Gold Coast. It has got off on the wrong foot in its new financial year, with the Greater London Authority advising that the group and partners won’t be getting the job of developing a 10ha site in the city’s Royal Docks area.
However, life’s not all bad for ASF, which has an uncanny ability to successfully tap its big Chinese backers on the shoulders for cash.
Its quest to break into Europe is not dead in the water, thanks to a role in the regeneration of one of London’s boroughs – a project that, at $9 billion, dwarfs the mooted $3 billion Spit casino and resort.
And while tens of millions have gone down the gurgler on Gold Coast integrated resort tilts, the city hasn’t provided ASF with solely bad news.
It’s kicking goals at Hope Island where its 187-title The Peninsula residential project continues to sell strongly.
Then there’s its plans for The AU twin towers in Southport directly behind the area where Mayor Tom Tate has suggested a casino could go.
The plan for the towers, one a gold-clad 66 levels and the other 15 floors, appears to be on hold, maybe because of the casino possibility and perhaps because of market conditions.
ASF also has another card to play in its project pack.
This one is something of a wildcard, in the form of a three-level beachfront Surfers Paradise house bought for $4.86 million early last year.
ASF hasn’t spelled out whether the house is an executive retreat or whether it intends to redevelop the site.
Meanwhile the company, which describes itself as an Sino-Australian trading house and has minority stakes in four Australian resources groups, manages to keep raising cash.
In 2016-17, ASF, which prides itself on having “a lean and conservative” balance sheet, pulled in $12 million from a rights issue and by June 30 had $17.6 million in cash reserves.
LIFE’S NOT ALL BAD FOR ASF, WHICH HAS AN UNCANNY ABILITY TO SUCCESSFULLY TAP ITS CHINESE BACKERS ON THE SHOULDERS FOR CASH.