International casino operator Genting Malaysia Bhd recorded total first-quarter revenue of MYR1.72 billion (US$391.3 million), up 176.2 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
The group also registered adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of MYR414.4 million, as compared to negative MYR110.4 million in the first quarter of 2021, it said in a Thursday filing to Bursa Malaysia.
Genting Malaysia’s pre-tax loss narrowed by 79.3 percent year-on-year, to MYR116.1 million after taking into consideration depreciation and amortisation; finance costs; and the group’s share of results in an associate, Empire Resorts Inc, in the United States.
Genting Malaysia’s group-wide net loss narrowed by 70.5 percent, to MYR147.9 million.
In its Malaysia operation – mainly driven by the country’s monopoly casino business at Resorts World Genting – revenue from leisure and hospitality operations more than tripled year-on-year, to MYR920.0 million.
The Malaysian operation’s quarterly adjusted EBITDA was MYR262.9 million, as compared to an EBITDA loss of MYR83.6 million a year earlier.
“The improvements were primarily due to overall higher volume of business at Resorts World Genting as a result of the eased travel restrictions in the country,” relative to the first quarter of 2021, said the company.
The group’s adjusted EBITDA in Malaysian operations for the first three months this year, was also aided by “higher debt recovery,” the firm said.
The company said tourism was “expected to continue its gradual recovery,” and that the “progressive reopening of borders and continued easing” of Covid-19-related restrictions would “improve optimism surrounding the tourism, leisure and hospitality industries, including the regional gaming sector.”
In the United Kingdom and Egypt, revenue from the group’s operations recovered to MYR395.3 million in the first quarter this year, nearly 10 times that of first-quarter 2021.
In the United States and the Bahamas, revenue from the group’s leisure and hospitality business grew by 39.6 percent year-on-year, to MYR357.9 million. Genting Malaysia also reported adjusted EBITDA in those markets up 13.7 percent year-on-year, at MYR78.0 million.
“These improvements were mainly driven by the strong operating performance registered at Resorts World New York City, as facilities in New York state continued to operate without mandated Covid-19 restrictions,” said the firm.
Its associate company in the U.S., Empire Resorts, “recorded similar improvements in its operating performance” in first-quarter 2022, with gross gaming revenue at Resorts World Catskills “surpassing pre-pandemic levels,” said Genting Malaysia.
