GKL posts US$33mln loss in 1Q as sales plummet

May 11, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Grand Korea Leisure Ltd (GKL), a South Korean operator of foreigner-only casinos, reported a first-quarter net loss of KRW37.43 billion (US$33.4 million), compared with net income of just under KRW14.72 billion in the prior-year period. The company had reported a net loss of nearly KRW32.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020.

First-quarter sales at GKL decreased by 95.3 percent year-on-year to KRW5.27 billion, the firm said in a Tuesday filing with its unaudited quarterly results to the Korea Exchange. It was a 64.7-percent decline from the final quarter of 2020.

The company reported an operating loss of approximately KRW46.64 billion for the three months to March 31, compared with an operating profit of nearly KRW26.92 billion a year earlier.

GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The casino-operating entity runs three foreigner-only casinos in South Korea under the Seven Luck brand: two in the capital Seoul, and one in the southern port city of Busan.

The casino operator reopened its Seoul venues, Gangnam COEX, and Gangbuk Hilton, on March 15. The group’s Seven Luck Casino Busan Lotte venue had resumed operations on February 15. The three properties had been shuttered since November 24 as a Covid-19 countermeasure.

In a filing to the Korean bourse last week, GKL said its April casino sales rose by 48.4 percent year-on-year, to KRW8.83 billion.

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