GGRAsia – Belle’s net profit jumps on CoD Manila ramp-up

Belle’s net profit jumps on CoD Manila ramp-up

Nov 09, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Belle Corp, an investor in the City of Dreams Manila casino project (pictured) in the Philippines, saw its net income attributable to shareholders rise 54.8 percent year-on-year for the nine months to September 30, to PHP1.58 billion (US$32.4 million), the firm said in a financial report filed on Wednesday.

The firm leases out land and buildings for the casino property on a long-term basis. Belle also realises a share in earnings from City of Dreams Manila’s gaming operations via Belle’s 78.7 percent-owned subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp.

The company’s operating growth in the nine-month period “was fuelled primarily by growth in its share in the gaming income of City of Dreams Manila,” said Belle in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“Premium Leisure Corp’s gaming income share for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 doubled to PHP1.1 billion, from PHP554 million for the comparable period in 2015. This was attributable to the ramp-up in gaming operations of City of Dreams Manila,” said Belle.

The firm further stated it “realised higher revenues” from its lease of the land and buildings for City of Dreams Manila, which is operated by Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. Such revenues increased by 4 percent year-on-year to PHP1.64 billion for the first nine months of 2016.

Belle reported total revenues of PHP4.64 billion for the nine months to September 30, up by 17 percent from the prior-year period.

In Wednesday’s filing, Belle said its third-quarter 2016 net income reached approximately PHP841.2 million, compared to PHP271.9 million a year earlier. Operating revenue for the three-month period increased by 26.3 percent year-on-year to nearly PHP1.60 billion, the firm said.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, the parent of Melco Crown Philippines, said on November 3 that City of Dreams Manila recorded third-quarter net revenue of US$131 million, compared to US$91.7 million in the third quarter of 2015.

Belle announced last week it would terminate a revenue-sharing agreement with gaming investor Leisure Resorts World Corp (LRWC), regarding City of Dreams Manila. Belle said it would pay the LRWC group a total of PHP5.09 billion to terminate that agreement at the end of March 2017.