GGRAsia – Bloomberry back to profit, Quezon scheme now 1Q 2024

Bloomberry back to profit, Quezon scheme now 1Q 2024

Mar 02, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippines-listed Bloomberry Resorts Corp saw 2022 net income of PHP5.14 billion (US$93.6 million), after a net loss of PHP4.25 billion in 2021. The company also said in a Thursday filing that the opening of its under-development casino resort project in Vertis, at Quezon City, was delayed to the first quarter of 2024.

Group-wide consolidated revenues for full-year 2022 stood at PHP38.93 billion, an increase of 76.8 percent from the previous year. Gross gaming revenues (GGR) rose by 81.4 percent year-on-year, to PHP50.11 billion.

“Total GGR has recovered to 84 percent of the 2019 level, propelled mainly by the largely-domestic mass tables and electronic gaming machines (EGM) segments,” stated Bloomberry in its filing.

Bloomberry controls Solaire Resort and Casino (pictured) in the Metro Manila region. All segments at Solaire “benefited from strong domestic demand which was supplemented by improved international visitation in the second half of the year,” stated the firm.

The company also operates a casino property in South Korea’s Jeju island. According to Bloomberry, that operation remained loss-making in 2022.

Group-wide consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached PHP14.3 billion in 2022, up by 174.5 percent from the prior year.

Enrique Razon, Bloomberry chairman and chief executive, was cited as saying in a press release accompanying the results: “2022 was a positive year of recovery for Bloomberry as Solaire benefited from a strong rebound in local demand across all business segments.”

Mr Razon stated that revenues at Solaire’s “domestic-focused” mass table games and EGM segments “already reached 100 percent of 2019 pre-pandemic levels”.

He added: “We look forward to delivering even better results in 2023 and to reaching more milestones in the years to come.”

In his comments, Mr Razon also said the group had “ramped up” construction of the firm’s Solaire Resort North, at Quezon City. “We are excited to launch this new offering by the first quarter of 2024,” stated the CEO.

In the firm’s third-quarter 2022 results, published in November, Mr Razon had said that Solaire Resort North was “on schedule to open” by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Bloomberry ended 2022 on a high note. The firm reported consolidated net income of PHP1.1 billion in the three months to December 31, compared to a PHP1.3-billion loss in the in prior-year quarter.

Fourth-quarter net revenue was PHP11.6 billion, an increase of 75 percent year-on-year, while consolidated EBITDA for the period was PHP3.9 billion, up 113 percent from a year earlier.