The Hong Kong-listed parent of Macau-registered electronic gaming equipment distributor Asia Pioneer Entertainment Ltd has warned that it expects to swing to a HKD1.7-million (US$216,619) first-quarter loss, compared to an unaudited HKD4.8-million profit – before recurring expenses – recorded by the group in the first quarter 2017, a period prior to the group’s public flotation.
The deterioration was mainly attributable, said Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings Ltd, to a year-on-year decrease in revenue from sales of electronic gaming equipment and its consulting and technical services; an increase in operating expenses; and a “decrease in the group’s gross profit margin for the current period”.
Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings started trading on Hong Kong’s small-cap exchange, the Growth Enterprise Market, in November last year.
Part of the firm’s commercial model involves acting as a clearing business for casino slot machines reaching the end of their life in the Macau market, in order to sell them on to other markets.
