Casino firm Landing flags 10pct-20pct slimmer year loss

Mar 05, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Casino operator Landing International Development Ltd says it expects to record in its 2020 annual results a year-on-year narrowing in consolidated net loss of between 10 percent and 20 percent.

Such loss in 2019 was just over HKD2.1 billion (US$274.5 million), according to the audited 2019 annual results filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May last year.

The firm developed and operates the Jeju Shinhwa World resort and associated foreigner-only gaming facility, Landing Casino (pictured), on the South Korean island of Jeju.

In a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong bourse, the company also said it expected for full-year 2020 “a slight decrease in consolidated revenue of approximately 3 percent”.

In 2019, the group’s consolidated revenue was approximately HKD815.5 million, according to that year’s annual report.

The flagged narrowing of its 2020 loss comes amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen a decline in tourism regionally and around the world.

The suggested narrowing of 2020 loss was also notwithstanding an “incident” the firm announced to the bourse on January 5 this year, regarding a “missing fund of approximately KRW14.56 billion [US$12.9 million],” from the gaming operation at Jeju Shinhwa World.

The group said in its warning regarding 2020 profit: “As the investigation of the incident is still ongoing, the company has yet to ascertain the recoverable amount and the definitive amount recognised as loss in the group’s consolidated financial statements for the year as at the date of this announcement.”

In mid-January, Jeju police said they had recovered about KRW12 billion in cash from what was thought to be part of Landing International’s missing funds, reported Yonhap news agency at the time.

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