Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of nearly PHP1.03 billion (US$20.5 million) for the second quarter of 2021, down 31.2 percent from the previous three months. The company said on Tuesday that the quarterly results were negatively affected by a 44-day closure of its Solaire Resort and Casino venue (pictured) in Manila, as a countermeasure against Covid-19.
The second-quarter EBITDA was still an improvement on the negative figure of PHP1.96 billion reported a year earlier, according respectively to a Tuesday filing and press release from the firm.
Solaire closed temporarily on March 29 as the national government introduced a so-called “enhanced community quarantine” to Metro Manila and its nearby provinces. The property was shut until May 15, when the government’s guidelines were eased to so-called general community quarantine.
Aggregate gross gaming revenue (GGR) at Solaire during the second quarter was PHP5.67 billion, representing a decrease of about 18 percent from PHP6.88 billion in the first three months of 2021, when the property had 88 days of limited-capacity operations. In year-on-year terms, GGR was higher by PHP4.99 billion, since Solaire had minimal gaming activity for the entire second quarter of 2020.
The group’s Jeju Sun operation in Jeju, South Korea, has been shut since March 21, 2020.
Bloomberry’s group-wide net revenue for the three months to June 30 was PHP4.71 billion, down 14.7 percent from the previous quarter, but up more than 400 percent from the prior-year period.
The group’s net loss attributable to shareholders for the second quarter was PHP1.16 billion, up 50.3 percent sequentially, but an improvement on the PHP4.70 billion recorded a year earlier.
“Bloomberry generated respectable results during the quarter despite having virtually no gaming operations between April and mid-May,” said Bloomberry’s chairman and chief executive Enrique Razon in comments included in Tuesday’s press release.
He added: “Consolidated EBITDA reached PHP1.0 billion in the second quarter as we benefitted from high hold rates at Solaire and realised savings from our continuous group-wide cost optimisation efforts.”
Bloomberry is developing a second Philippine casino resort – Solaire North – at Quezon City on the outskirts of the Metro Manila area.
Metro Manila – where Solaire is located within the Entertainment City zone – will again be placed under the most restrictive “enhanced community quarantine” from Friday (August 6) to August 20, as countermeasure against the further spread of Covid-19 in the region.
