Spanish gambling operator Grupo Cirsa SA, has maintained corporate growth, and progress across its home and LATAM agendas, despite its corporate performance being impacted by the depreciation of South American currencies against the Euro.

Presenting its Q1 2018 trading update, Cirsa reports a 1.5% increase in group net revenues to €4.17 billion, primarily driven by the sustained growth of its Spanish arcade and casino properties.

For its LATAM operations, Cirsa continues its ‘organic agenda’ focusing on expanding its table and slot inventories across its Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Dominica and Costa Rica casinos.

However, Cirsa’s Q1 2018 trading period saw all South American currencies depreciate against the Euro, which would contribute to a negative FX impact of €14 million.

Closing the trading period, Cirsa governance would declare a corporate EBIT of €41.5 million, in-line with corresponding 2017’s €42 million EBIT performance.

Cirsa governance delivers its final quarterly performance update as an independent gambling operator.

This April, leading US private equity firm Blackstone Capital agreed to acquire the Spanish Gambling operator outright, for a reported €2 billion buyout.

As part of the transaction, Cirsa enterprise founder Manuel Lao Hernandez is set to maintain the gambling firm’s Argentine arcade and casino properties, which moving forward will be excluded from Cirsa corporate updates.

Updating corporate stakeholders on its current financial position, Cirsa governance details that it has active cash balance of €180 million, combined with available credit facility of €75 million.

At present the Spanish enterprise operates with a net-debt of circa €955 million, representing a corporate net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio of x2.2.