First-quarter casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) at Cambodia operator NagaCorp Ltd rose by 23.7 percent year-on-year, to nearly US$145.4 million, according to a non-statutory filing on its quarterly results made to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
The firm reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$80.3 million in the three months to March 31, up 32.6 percent as compared to the prior-year period.
NagaCorp has a long-life monopoly licence for casino operations in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, where it runs the NagaWorld complex (pictured).
The group said in its Wednesday statement that by other measures, namely average daily business volumes, in the form of table game buy-ins, bills-in at slot machines, and “rollings” in premium VIP and referral VIP, its first-quarter business had showed gains.
The table buy-in and slots bills-in aggregate was about US$951.3 million, up 8.2 percent on the prior-year period, said the company. The segment’s GGR rose by 19.9 percent year-on-year, to US$92.5 million in first-quarter 2023.
“The mass-market segment continued its growth trajectory, which was mainly contributed by … table games which recorded GGR growth of 34 percent in first-quarter 2024” compared to the prior-year period, said the firm. “Premium mass high limit table games remain … the key growth driver, with GGR increasing by 51 percent in the first quarter of 2024” from a year earlier, it added.
NagaCorp said the average daily business volumes recorded in its mass-market segment in the three months to March 31 were “the highest since the reopening of the property” in the third quarter of 2021, following the relaxation of restrictions linked to Covid-19.
The average daily rolling volume in its premium VIP segment was just above US$1.16 billion, up 19.3 percent year-on-year. Judged in quarterly GGR terms, premium VIP was up 24.3 percent from a year earlier, to US$35.5 million.
“The average daily rollings in first-quarter 2024 have exceeded the average business volumes recorded in the financial year ended 31 December 2019,” the year before the onset of the pandemic, said NagaCorp.
Average daily rolling volume in referral VIP was US$351.3 million, down 9.3 percent from first-quarter 2023. Nonetheless, the segment’s GGR stood at US$17.4 million for the three months to March 31, up 47.5 percent from a year ago.
The casino firm said in the filing that the group’s total cash and bank balances had “further increased” to US$414.3 million as of March 31.
“The company intends to drawdown the loan extended by the controlling shareholder of the company of up to US$80 million … so as to discharge part of the outstanding 7.95-percent senior notes issued by the company of US$472.2 million, upon their maturity on 6 July 2024,” said NagaCorp.
The company reported a net profit of US$177.7 million for full-year 2023, up 65.7 percent on the prior year. Such profit was on revenue that rose by 15.7 percent year-on-year, to US$533.2 million.
The management of NagaCorp said in February that it was looking to reduce the scale and budget of its Naga 3 extension project at NagaWorld, in order to minimise capital expenditure, “so that there is surplus cash flow, possibly for the payment of dividends”.
