Grand Emperor Hotel annual gaming revenue down 16 pct

Jun 25, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Gaming revenue at the Grand Emperor Hotel (pictured), on Macau peninsula, fell by 15.6 percent year-on-year in the year to March 31. It was against a backdrop of what the operating company called “a challenging market environment overshadowed by economic and regulatory concerns”.

Such revenue was approximately HKD1.73 billion (US$223.2 million) during the period, compared to HKD2.05 billion in the year-prior period.

The venue – which operates casino gambling on a licence from Macau casino firm SJM Holdings Ltd – is controlled by Hong Kong-listed Emperor Entertainment Hotel Ltd. The latter also owns Inn Hotel Macau, a non-casino venue formerly known as Best Western Hotel Taipa.

Gaming accounted for 85.1 percent of the group’s total revenue during the period, the parent company said in a filing on Wednesday.

Emperor Entertainment Hotel said that group profit for the 12 months fell 16 percent to HKD504.30 million from HKD600 million a year earlier. Basic earnings per share were HKD0.39, compared to HKD0.46 in the year-prior period.

The board recommended the payment of a final dividend of HKD0.06 per share. Together with an interim dividend of HKD0.05 per share, the total dividends per share for the year were HKD0.11, compared to HKD0.135 in fiscal 2014.

The 307-room hotel had 67 gaming tables and 200 slot machine seats on the main casino concourse and a self-managed VIP room with 10 tables during the reporting period.

While rolling volume from the VIP room fell 2.7 percent during the period, to HKD25.4 billion from HKD26.1 billion in 2014, revenue actually grew by 11.8 percent to HKD504.7 million, from HKD451.5 million in the year-prior period, accounting for 24.8 percent of the group’s total revenue.

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