News: AAD UPDATE 1-Australia's Ardent Leisure logs loss; insurance to cover Harvey damage, page-5

I have been following this event closely, and waiting for the report.

Main Event has 38 centres- only 5 of them were in Houston and affected, 3 for a total estimated period of only 12 days, one for some 2 months and the last one, not known as yet.

Of the 10 new centres opened in FY17, only 1 was in Texas. Of the 5-7 planned for next year, I'd imagine they are also mostly all interstate, as Main Event has been diversifying out of Texas.

Anyway, all property costs and any lost income from Harvey will be covered by property and business interruption insurance.

From personal experience, when people experience a major disruption like Harvey- they tend to want to normalise things as quickly as possible afterwards, and it's common that they seek diversion in entertainment, so I don't think business will suffer much once all 5 stores reopen.

Texas has a very resilient population and this problem is not something specific to Main Event. As well, Trump has asked for US$9bn from Congress to pump into the local economy.

We of course are only talking 5 stores in Houston- and another 3 which sustained very minor damage in nearby areas.

This from the report:

31 August 2017

The Main Event business operates five centres in the immediate Houston area which have been affected by the impact of Hurricane Harvey.

These five centres have been closed since the hurricane struck the coast on 26 August 2017 and have sustained varying degrees of damage.

The level of damage is currently being assessed but this process is hampered by access and utility issues.

At this stage, Ardent expects three of the centres to re-open within seven days. The opening of the fourth centre is likely to be delayed, possibly one to two months. The fifth centre has sustained more extensive damage and it is not possible at this time to determine a likely re-opening time frame.

This represents the current preliminary assessment of the Main Event team who are managing the situation on the ground, but remains subject to change based on further evaluation work and changes in prevailing weather and environmental conditions.

A further three centres in adjacent areas outside of Houston are being assessed for any damage, although at this stage any damage to these is considered to be minor.

The Group maintains property and business interruption insurance coverage which is expected to cover any costs and loss of earnings.

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This post is based on my own research and is not investment advice. When making investment decisions, always DYOR.