GGRAsia – Casino op Landing halves year loss, gaming revenue dips

Casino op Landing halves year loss, gaming revenue dips

Mar 31, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Landing International Development Ltd, operator of the Landing Casino (pictured) on Jeju island, in South Korea, reported a HKD1.06-billion (US$134.9-million) annual loss for 2021, but that was still halved from the HKD2.12-billion loss for 2020, the firm said in a Wednesday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company stated the reduction in annual loss was due to factors including “increase in consolidated revenue and the fair value gains of investment properties for the year, together with… stringent cost controls in operating expenses”.

Nonetheless, the group’s auditors warned of “material uncertainty” about the group’s “ability to continue as a going concern”, as it had net current liabilities of HKD781.9 million as of December 31, 2021.

Its interest-bearing bank borrowing rose 155.0 percent year-on-year in 2021, to HKD2.11 billion, from HKD829.2 million. Landing International’s total assets, less current liabilities, shrank 27.5 percent year-on-year, to just under HKD8.87 billion

The group’s 2021 consolidated revenue rose 71.3 percent year-on-year, to HKD1.35 billion. But 2021 gaming-segment revenue was HKD88.6 million, down 52.5 percent on 2020.

The 2021 revenue from integrated resort development was up 69.8 percent year-on-year, to HKD856.4 million. Last year’s revenue from property development was nearly HKD405.0 million, up 316.3 percent year-on-year.

But when the company’s liabilities in those three segments were taken into account, they produced a combined segmental loss of HKD885.2 million, an improvement from a HKD1.7-billion segmental loss in 2020.

Landing Casino is at Jeju Shinhwa World, a tourism resort developed and operated by the group.

The group’s management said the resort “largely relies on entertainment and hospitality market conditions, especially the gaming business,” and this had been “inevitably affected” by travel and business restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.