GGRAsia – Casino junket investor Sinogreen gives profit warning

Casino junket investor Sinogreen gives profit warning

Jan 15, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Sinogreen Energy International Group Ltd, a Hong Kong-listed firm controlled since September 2014 by Macau casino junket investor Jack Lam Yin Lok, warned in a filing on Wednesday that it expected to record a significant decrease in profit or even a loss for the year ended December 31, 2014.

In the year ended December 31, 2013 the firm made a profit attributable to shareholders of HKD344.31 million (US$44.4 million). It said in its latest filing that the balance sheet that year was boosted by a one-off gain of approximately HKD359.40 million as a result of successful litigation in Hong Kong related to the unwinding of a television technology business Sinogreen had previously acquired.

Sinogreen said the absence of such a one-off gain in 2014 was the main reason for the profit warning.

Following a share subscription completed in September, Mr Lam and parties associated with him assumed control of 65.85 percent of Sinogreen’s capital. The firm has previously traded mainly in chemical products and technology related to energy conservation.

In November Sinogreen said that it planned to use 60 percent of the HKD164.4 million the firm raised via a share subscription and issue of convertible notes announced on July 25, for “establishing its gaming promotion business in Macau.”

Mr Lam is chairman of Jimei Group Ltd, one of Macau’s largest consolidators of gaming promoters.

Currently Jimei runs Jimei Casino next door to the Grand Lapa hotel on Macau peninsula under an SJM Holdings Ltd gaming licence. Jimei also has junket rooms in other Macau casino properties.