Premium Leisure Corp – a Philippine company covering a stake held by the family of Filipino billionaire Henry Sy in the licence of the City of Dreams Manila casino resort (pictured) – issued its 2014 results on Friday.
The firm reported net income of PHP1.34 billion (US$30.4 million) for 2014 and declared a cash dividend to shareholders of PHP0.022 per share. It amounts to PHP700 million in total for common shareholders, payable on April 17 to shareholders of record as of March 20.
The company said the amount of cash dividend was approximately 94.63 percent of 2014 unrestricted retained earnings – based on the audited financial statements of Premium Leisure’s parent company.
In 2014, Premium Leisure underwent a corporate reorganisation with its parent company, Belle Corp.
The exercise repositioned Premium Leisure as a gaming-focused investment company through the acquisition of gaming-related assets including Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc. The latter firm is part of a consortium that holds the provisional casino licence for City of Dreams Manila, granted by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) – that country’s gaming regulator.
City of Dreams Manila is part of a cluster of private sector casinos in Manila – each with a minimum investment of US$1 billion – that have been encouraged by Pagcor and the national government as a way of capturing more tourist spending from Chinese and other regional visitors.
City of Dreams Manila was developed in a partnership between the Sy family and Macau casino company Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd and is operated by the latter. It had a soft launch for the local Philippines market on December 14 and an official opening on February 2.
