Two brokerages acknowledged in respective Friday notes that Genting Singapore Ltd, promoter of Singapore casino complex Resorts World Sentosa, had missed quarter-on-quarter market forecasts for earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the fourth quarter.
The indicator fell sequentially by 31 percent on an adjusted basis, said banking group JP Morgan.
Judged year-on-year, adjusted EBITDA for the whole of 2023 was up 32.5 percent, at SGD1.03 billion (US$767.0 million), Genting Singapore had said in its full-year numbers filed on Thursday.
Banking group Nomura said it expected a “brighter” outlook for the casino firm this year and next.
“We think that the upcoming first-quarter results will be better, barring any blips in VIP hold rate, due to seasonally strongest gaming volumes, the mutual Singapore-China visa waiver starting February, non-recurring one-off items, and concert-led tourism boom,” wrote the Nomura analysts, referring latterly to supporting factors relating to Singapore’s tourism sector.
Nomura added, speaking specifically of non-gaming facilities at Resorts World Sentosa: “Attractions such as Minion Land, [Singapore] Oceanarium, lifestyle retail, and food and beverage outlets,” were due to be completed “by end-2024 and will be ready for a soft opening in early 2025, providing further growth runway”.
Though the institution also observed, referring to room accommodation due to shut on March 2 for revamp and rebranding: “On the flip side, Hard Rock Hotel will be closed for refurbishment, taking approximately 400 [room] keys out of inventory for two quarters, but average room rate should be higher once reopened as a suite hotel.”
JP Morgan said the fourth-quarter numbers for Genting Singapore were “not good, but not thesis-changing either”.
“Costs/margin disappointed with higher bad debt and reinvestments that weighed on EBITDA to miss consensus by 10 to 15 percent,” observed the institution.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd said in a Friday memo: “Genting Singapore does not expect impairment of trade receivables to be as large, going forward.”
Analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang added, citing management: “The aforesaid penalties and write offs will not recur.”
The bank also observed that an increase in volume of Chinese visitors since Singapore and China mutually waived visa requirements for each other’s citizens in early February, “ought to reduce the need for marketing expenses” for customers at Resorts World Sentosa.
For its part, JP Morgan stated: “We don’t feel the equity story of Genting Singapore is changing which is primarily based on ‘undemanding valuation’ even based on current run-rate, with ‘unmodelled optionality’ from the return of Chinese players near-term, and RWS 2.0 long-term.”
The latter is a reference to the expansion work at Resorts World Sentosa, agreed with the Singapore government.
In November, Genting Singapore said its board had approved a total investment of about SDG6.80 billion to upgrade and expand Resorts World Sentosa. The figure includes a previous SGD4.5-billion pledge to the city-state’s authorities for the expansion of the complex.
(Updated 9.07am, February 26)
