Obbligazioni societarie HIGH YIELD e oltre, verso frontiere inesplorate, vol.3

London, September 09, 2025 -- Moody's Ratings (Moody's) has today assigned a B2 rating to the proposed issuance of the £516 million equivalent senior secured notes by 888 Acquisitions Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gibraltar-based gaming operator Evoke plc (Evoke). The rest of Evoke's existing ratings are unaffected, including the B2 corporate family rating (CFR), the B2-PD probability of default rating, and all the instrument ratings issued by 888 Acquisitions Limited, 888 Acquisitions LLC and the B3 senior unsecured rating of William Hill Limited. The outlook remains unchanged at stable.

The proceeds from the new issuance will be used to repay the €582 million backed senior secured fixed rate notes due July 2027 and the associated transaction costs.

Additionally, Evoke announced a new £200 million senior secured revolving credit facility (RCF) to replace and refinance existing £71 million drawings under the existing facilities.

RATINGS RATIONALE

Evoke's proposed transaction is credit positive as it improves the company's liquidity and extend its debt maturities. Moody's-adjusted gross debt to EBITDA pro forma for the transaction remains elevated at 6.0x (as of the last twelve months ended June 2025), however, we expect it to reduce to 5.6x at the end of December 2025.

Positively, we continue to expect progressive revenue growth alongside a reduction in exceptional integration and transformation costs, supporting a concurrent and meaningful improvement in Evoke's profitability, leverage and cashflow generation in the next 12-18 months.

Evoke's CFR of B2 continues to reflect the group's established and popular brands with good market positions in large key gaming markets (the UK, Italy, Spain); competitive advantage stemming from Evoke's proprietary technology platform, which also enables the company to proactively monitor clients' behaviour and provide players with appropriate safeguarding measures; and the progress made by new management to return the company to revenue growth as well as continuing to improve its cost base.

However, the B2 CFR remains constrained by the group's concentration in the mature UK market (almost 70% of group revenue); its high Moody's-adjusted debt to EBITDA that we forecast at about 5.6x as of the end of December 2025, which has failed to materially improve since closing of the William Hill International acquisition in 2022; the lack of FCF generation to date, and our expectation of no significant FCF generation also in 2025; the highly competitive nature of the online betting and gaming industry; and the ongoing risk of regulatory changes and gaming tax increases due to social pressure.

LIQUIDITY

Evoke's liquidity is adequate. The company had about £121 million of unrestricted cash on balance sheet as of 30 June 2025 which included £71 million of drawings from the existing revolving credit facility. The new £200 million RCF due in 2030 provides additional availability as £50 million of existing RCF was due at the end of 2025. We expect Moody's adjusted free cash flow to be broadly neutral for the full year 2025 due to exceptional costs and sustained capex investments.

The RCF has a springing covenant when it is drawn for at least 40%; the applicable level would be 7.65x net debt leverage with no step-down, leaving sufficient room with a 5.6x net debt ratio as of last twelve month ending 30 June 2025. With the proposed transaction, Evoke would have no significant debt maturities at least until 2028 (only £11 million of WHL bonds maturing in 2026 remain outstanding and are expected to be repaid with cash available).

STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

The B2 rating assigned to Evoke's senior secured bonds is in line with the company's CFR. These instruments rank pari passu among themselves, including the new £200 million RCF. All of these facilities benefit from a security package represented mainly by share pledges, floating charges on UK entities and guarantees from all substantial subsidiaries of the group, including upstream guarantees from William Hill Limited subsidiaries.

The £11 million of legacy senior unsecured notes due 2026 issued by William Hill Limited remain outstanding; we rate them B3, one notch lower than Evoke's CFR, because of a weaker security package and guarantor coverage than the other debt facilities.

OUTLOOK

The stable outlook reflects our expectations that Evoke's revenues remain on a positive trajectory and EBITDA margins will continue to improve. Moody's adjusted leverage, however, will decline below 5.0x only towards the end of 2026. The stable outlook also assumes no changes to the regulatory environment in the jurisdictions where Evoke operates and that the company's liquidity will start to improve.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

The ratings could be upgraded following a sustained period of revenue growth combined with no regulatory findings/fines. It would also require Evoke to sustain its Moody's adjusted debt-to-EBITDA below 5.0x, Moody's adjusted FCF-to-debt above 5% and Moody's-adjusted EBITA-to-interest above 1.5x.

A downgrade of the ratings could occur if Moody's-adjusted FCF remains negative and Moody's-adjusted debt-to-EBITDA stays above 5.5x by the end of 2026. Downward pressure could also materialise should changes in Evoke's financial policy result in greater appetite for leverage or if significantly adverse regulatory actions occur in one or more of the larger geographies in which the company operates.

PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Gaming published in June 2021 and available at Ratings.Moodys.com. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on https://ratings.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.

PROFILE

Evoke Plc, headquartered in Gibraltar, is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of about £260 million as of 8 September 2025.

The group is the combination of 888 and WHI's operations outside the US, a merger that closed in July 2022.

The company has a strong presence in the UK, and is well positioned in Italy, Spain and Denmark with a widely recognised online and retail brand portfolio.

For the twelve-month period ended June 2025, the group generated revenue of £1.8 billion and adjusted EBITDA of £362.8million, as reported by the company.
 
L'amministratore fiduciario di HoldCo ( Ferralum ) si è dimesso perché non sono stati pagati, e ho ricevuto l'email qui sotto (con tutti gli azionisti e obbligazionisti in copia, che professionalità!).

Dear direct/indirect Shareholders of Bond HoldCo SA and Bond BidCo S.à r.l.,

As a matter of introduction, please be advised that we act as the fiduciary administrator for both Bond HoldCo S.A. and Bond BidCo S.à r.l. in Luxembourg.

Please find attached the resignation letters of some Directors of both the TopCo and the BidCo entities. These resignations are the result of the resigning Directors/Managers’ frustration not to receive the proper information. They, indeed, considered that the information received during the board meeting were limited and did not correspond the several requests made through the various meetings. On top of that, we noted a prolonged failure to settle outstanding invoices, despite repeated reminders to various contacts within the Ferralum group.

In this respect you will find attached the list of all the outstanding invoices.

Following these resignations, Mr Lyazid Benyaya remains the sole manager of BidCo, with Mr James Ritchie (copied here) continuing in his role as observer. We would like to remind you that the articles of association of BidCo stipulate a board composed of four managers. The current composition is therefore non-compliant.

Furthermore, we wish to stress that, under Luxembourg law, a public limited liability company (société anonyme or “SA”) must have at least three directors. Following the resignations, only one director remains, meaning the company is now in breach of both the law and its own articles of association which provides for a number of four Directors.

We strongly urge you to appoint replacement directors as a matter of urgency. To facilitate this, and subject to their consent, we would suggest considering the appointment of Mr Lyazid Benyaya, Mr Ehsan Mojtahed, and Mr Ioannis Zaimis (all copied here) as directors of both entities.

Should no suitable replacements be appointed within a reasonable timeframe, we reserve all rights to petition the Luxembourg courts for the appointment of a judicial administrator, as well as to initiate recovery proceedings in respect of the unpaid invoices. In the latter matter, we would like to stress that without a prompt settlement within 3 weeks we will terminate our services. The Companies will then have not registered office and thus will be in breach of the law.

We trust the urgency of the situation is clear and look forward to your swift response.

Kind regards

Ludovic Trogliero
Director - Fund & Corporate Services
 
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New York, September 10, 2025 -- Moody's Ratings (Moody's) affirmed Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.'s (K. Hovnanian, collectively Hovnanian) B2 corporate family rating (CFR), B2-PD probability of default rating (PDR) and the B2 backed senior secured notes rating. At the same time, we assigned a B3 rating to K. Hovnanian's proposed $440 million backed senior unsecured notes due 2031 and $440 million backed senior unsecured notes due 2033 and upgraded to B3 from Caa1 the existing backed $25 million senior unsecured notes due 2040. We also upgraded Hovnanian Enterprises' preferred stock rating to Caa1 from Caa2. The SGL-3 Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating remains unchanged. The outlook remains stable.

K. Hovnanian is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hovnanian Enterprises.

We expect the terms and conditions of the proposed senior unsecured notes will be similar to K. Hovnanian's existing rated senior unsecured notes. The unsecured notes will be pari passu to each other.

Proceeds from the proposed senior unsecured notes and cash on hand will be used to fully redeem K. Hovnanian's existing $175 million senior secured 1.75 lien term loan due 2028 (unrated), $225 million senior secured 1.125 lien notes due 2028 and $430 million 1.250 lien notes due 2029 and to pay related transactions fees in essentially a leverage-neutral transaction. Upon closing and repayment of the senior secured notes, the B2 rating on both of the senior secured notes will be withdrawn.

The transaction reduces Hovnanian's refinancing risk and extends its maturity profile, which is credit positive. The company's debt structure is simplified and almost totally unsecured, with the exception of nonrecourse mortgages secured by inventory ($54 million as of 31 July 2025) and the $125 million senior secured revolving credit facility due 2028 (unrated). While the transaction could result in estimated annual interest savings of about $10 million, this amount is modest relative to projected interest expense of about $125 million in fiscal-year 2026, ending October 31, 2026.

The upgrades of K. Hovnanian's senior unsecured notes to B3 and Hovnanian Enterprises' preferred stock to Caa1 result from the payoff of $830 million in secured debt, removing a significant amount of secured obligations with a higher priority of payment and warranting the one notch upgrades.

RATINGS RATIONALE

Hovnanian's B2 CFR remains constrained by the company's high leverage and low interest coverage because of ongoing economic uncertainties and weak consumer confidence that is negatively impacting domestic residential homebuilding. We forecast 52% debt/book capitalization and 1.5x EBIT/interest expense as of fiscal year-end 2026 (October 31, 2026). We anticipate a continued decline in pricing power for homebuilders in 2025 and beyond, necessitating the use of incentives to boost sales and resulting in more modest gross margins. We project gross margin at around 16% by late fiscal-year 2026, which is the lowest level since fiscal year-end 2018. Significant improvement in operating performance and volume growth are critical for leverage reduction.

No near-term maturities and the ability to generate cash are Hovnanian's credit strengths. We project $265 million of free cash flow (FCF) in fiscal-year 2025 but slightly negative FCF the following fiscal year as the company invests in more land lots. 86% of Hovnanian's total lots are controlled through option contracts, enhancing operational and financial flexibility. The company offers homes across the economic spectrum of potential buyers throughout different regions of the country, giving it diversified sources of revenue. Long-term fundamentals of the US housing market remain solid.

Hovnanian's Speculative-Grade Liquidity (SGL) rating of SGL-3 reflects the company's adequate liquidity over the next 12-18 months, constrained by the company's $125 million senior secured revolving credit facility. Despite Hovnanian having full access, we view the amount of revolver availability as modest relative to interest expense. In addition, non-banks, with a concentrated commitment by affiliates of Apollo Management, L.P., provide the revolving credit facility.

The stable outlook reflects our view that leverage will remain below 60% debt/book capitalization over the next 18 months. No near-term maturities and long-term fundamentals of the US homebuilding industry further support the stable outlook.

The B3 senior unsecured notes rating, one notch below the B2 CFR, results from the subordination of the notes to the company's secured debt.

The Caa1 preferred stock rating, two notches below the B2 CFR, is the most junior commitment within Hovanian's debt structure, resulting in first-loss absorption.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

A ratings upgrade could occur if end markets remain supportive of long-term organic growth such that debt/book capitalization is sustained below 50% and EBIT/interest remains above 3x. Maintenance of a simplified capital structure and improvement in liquidity would also support an upgrade.

A ratings downgrade could occur if debt/book capitalization stays above 60% and EBIT/interest is sustained below 2x. Negative ratings pressure may develop if the company experiences deteriorating liquidity or adopts an increasingly aggressive shareholder-return initiatives.

Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV), headquartered in Matawan, New Jersey, is a national homebuilder, with 124 communities across 13 states. Its revenue for the 12 months ended 31 July 2025 was $3.1 billion.

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Homebuilding And Property Development published in October 2022 and available at Ratings.Moodys.com. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on https://ratings.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.

The net effect of any adjustments applied to rating factor scores or scorecard outputs under the primary methodology(ies), if any, was not material to the ratings addressed in this announcement.
 

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