GGRAsia – GEN Highlands 1H visits soar y-o-y, new themed rides 4Q

GEN Highlands 1H visits soar y-o-y, new themed rides 4Q

Sep 27, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Visitor volume at Resorts World Genting, Malaysia’s only casino complex, based at Genting Highlands, more than quadrupled year-on-year in the six months to June 30, to 9.9 million, from 2.1 million.

That is according to a presentation by its promoter, Genting Malaysia Bhd, made respectively to the 29th Annual CITIC CLSA Flagship Investors’ Forum 2022; and the Credit Suisse Asia Gaming Day 2022, events held recently in Malaysia.

Nonetheless, among the 18 percent of first-half visitors to the property that stayed overnight, the average nightly room rate was down 7.1 percent year-on-year, at MYR226 (US$49.02), compared to MYR423 in the first half of 2021.

The firm said in its presentation that “up to three” more rides at its recently-opened Genting SkyWorlds theme park were “expected to be commissioned within the fourth quarter 2022”.

The company reiterated a point from an investor presentation earlier this year, that it would “optimise yield contributions by focusing on key business segments” including Genting SkyWorlds, and “database marketing efforts”.

Genting Malaysia also runs casinos in the United States, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, and Egypt, but normally gets most of its revenue from the Malaysian business, located outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.

In August, the firm announced its second-quarter revenue had risen by 166.0 percent year-on-year, with the Malaysia market showing “strong recovery momentum, driven by the lifting of Covid-19 related restrictions and reopening of national borders”.

Earlier this month, GMM Ltd, a Macau-registered firm that is an indirect subsidiary of Genting Malaysia, submitted a bid for a Macau gaming concession under a public tender process in that city.

It was the only outsider in a field that includes the six incumbent Macau operators. Submissions are to be considered over the next months, with up to six fresh, 10-year concessions likely to start from January.

Fitch Ratings Inc said in a Friday memo it had revised its outlook on the long-term issuer default ratings of Genting Malaysia to ‘stable’, from ‘negative’. The ratings agency also affirmed Genting Malaysia’s rating at ‘BBB’, an investment grade.

Fitch said it had “not factored any licence wins” in Macau in its estimates on Genting Malaysia, “given the uncertainty” regarding the outcome of the tender.