https://www.moodys.com/research/...tlook-changed-to-stable--PR_427926
New York, July 08, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") upgraded the ratings of GameStop Corp. ("GameStop") following the announcement that approximately 52% of the existing senior unsecured noteholders have agreed to exchange those notes for new secured notes due 2023. Ratings upgraded include the company's Corporate Family Rating to B3 from Caa1, Probability of Default Rating to B3-PD from Caa1-PD, senior unsecured rating to Caa1 from Caa2, and senior secured rating to B2 from B3. The company's Speculative Grade Liquidity rating is unchanged at SGL-3. The outlook is stable. This concludes the review for upgrade that was initiated on June 5, 2020.
"The exchange of more than 50% of the company's senior unsecured notes improves GameStop's debt maturity profile as about $216 million of its $415 million unsecured notes that were due in March 2021 are now due in March 2023," stated Pete Trombetta, Assistant Vice President at Moody's. In addition, the upgrade of the CFR to B3 reflects Moody's expectation that GameStop will repay at par the remaining unsecured notes upon their maturity in March 2021 using excess cash balances. This improved debt maturity profile is especially important given the industry and earnings pressure the company is facing including the impact from the coronavirus pandemic and delayed software releases. Despite the improvements in liquidity from the eased maturity schedule, the company's SGL-3 is unchanged at this time as Moody's expects the company to generate free cash flow deficits until the fourth quarter of 2020 and it will use about $198 million of cash to repay the remaining notes both of which will be supported by its sizable cash balances. |