Casino services firm Macau Legend warns likely 1H loss

Jul 20, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Casino services company Macau Legend Development Ltd said in a filing on Friday that it expects to record a loss for the six months ended June 30, 2015 as compared to a profit in the corresponding period in 2014.

The firm said the expected loss was mainly due to: “(i) decrease in overall gross gaming revenue generated from the gaming tables in the casinos within the group’s properties; (ii) an increase in overall operating expenses, particularly staff costs; and (iii) an increase in overall depreciation and amortisation charges, particularly the depreciation of Harbourview Hotel, which commenced operations on 2 February 2015, and the amortisation of intangible assets arisen from the consolidation of the financial results of New Legend VIP Club Limited since 3 July 2014.”

In the first half of 2014, Macau Legend’s profit was HKD226.4 million (US$29.2 million) – down HKD40.4 million or 15.1 percent year-on-year on the corresponding period in 2013.

The company said in Friday’s filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange: “Notwithstanding the expected loss to be recorded for the six months ended 30 June 2015, the group remains confident in its current business strategies, and will actively seek opportunities for business expansion so as to maximise value for its shareholders, partners and customers.”

Macau Legend said on February 2 that it had received all the necessary permits from the Macau government to open its 444-room Harbourview Hotel at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf (pictured in a rendering), a waterside development that is currently being expanded on Macau peninsula.

The hotel does not have any gaming, but is connected by bridge to the firm’s Babylon Casino at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Macau Legend said in another filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 28 that it had been granted “35 additional gaming tables” by the Macau government, which the company said would be deployed at Babylon Casino.

The table allocation comes via a local unit of Macau casino concessionaire SJM Holdings Ltd, which supplies the gaming licence for Macau Legend to operate its existing casino properties: Babylon Casino; and Pharaoh’s Palace Casino at the Landmark Hotel, also on Macau peninsula.

David Chow Kam Fai, co-chairman and chief executive of Macau Legend, is a former Macau legislator.

Macau Legend raised HKD2.19 billion in  a global public offering of its shares in July 2013, and a further HKD1.35 billion in a share sale in January 2014. The aim of both exercises was to help expand its investments and operations.

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