A massive drop in traffic and revenue has triggered a credit rating agency to change its view of sa国际传媒 Ferries.
DBRS Morningstar has changed sa国际传媒 Ferries鈥� trend to negative from stable, though it confirmed the corporation鈥檚 credit rating as A (high).
The agency cited the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding the pace of recovery in downgrading the trend of sa国际传媒 Ferries鈥� issuer and senior secured bonds ratings.
When asked what effect this would have on sa国际传媒 Ferries, spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said the corporation was facing an unprecedented drop in traffic and revenue. She also noted that earlier this month S&P Global affirmed Ferries鈥� credit rating at AA- and also revised the outlook from stable to negative.
鈥淭hese rating actions reflect the forecasted impact to the company鈥檚 financial performance for the fiscal of COVID-19, while recognizing the company鈥檚 current healthy cash position and strength to cover all financial obligations in the year, along with its strong enterprise risk and financial risk profile,鈥� Marshall said. 鈥淚t is expected both will continue to monitor and revisit these ratings as we all respond and recover from the pandemic.鈥�
sa国际传媒 Ferries has said it is losing between $1.25聽million and $1.5 million each day during the pandemic with traffic levels cut by as much as 80聽per cent.
Still, Marshall said the corporation expects to emerge from the pandemic in relatively good shape.
鈥淲hile the scope and scale of the pandemic has exceeded the scenario planning of most transportation entities across North America and around the world, sa国际传媒 Ferries鈥� historically strong financial performance means sa国际传媒鈥檚 coastal ferry system is positioned to potentially emerge from the effects of the pandemic more favourably than similar transportation entities,鈥� she said.
In its statement, DBRS said sa国际传媒 Ferries is expected to have cash to cover all of its financial obligations in the coming fiscal year, and that it expects to revise its rating to stable when traffic volume recovers.
The rating agency said it expects traffic could recover significantly by the third quarter of this year.
