GGRAsia – Kangwon 2022 rev US$1bln if Covid easing holds: broker

Kangwon 2022 rev US$1bln if Covid easing holds: broker

Aug 18, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Full-year revenue at Kangwon Land Inc, operator of Kangwon Land (pictured), the only South Korean casino resort permitted to serve local players, could reach KRW1.33 trillion (US$1.01 billion), provided that the country’s eased anti-Covid stance stays in place, says brokerage NH Investment & Securities Co Ltd, in a Tuesday note.

Such an annual revenue figure would be a 69.1-percent improvement from 2021, stated the report by analyst Hazell Lee.

“With the lifting of social distancing, Kangwon Land’s casino operations are normalising step by step,” noted Ms Lee.

“Since April 18, its business hours have normalised to 20 hours per day and access without prior reservation is possible again. Also, with side bets being allowed from May 16, a cap on concurrent visitors at 6,000 was lifted.”

She added: “We anticipate further meaningful sales growth from the third quarter of 2022 in line with full-quarter reflection of business normalisation effects. For reference, the average daily number of visitors since July has risen to 85 percent of the pre-pandemic level (8,000 in 2019). In addition, the daily average drop amount is already at the pre-Covid-19 level thanks to increased drop amount per person.”

Last week Kangwon Land Inc reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of KRW37.55 billion for the second quarter, on revenue up 53 percent year-on-year, according to a filing to the Korea Exchange.

On Wednesday, the country’s Yonhap News Agency reported the tally of new Covid-19 cases across the nation had jumped to a four-month high, coinciding with a long-weekend national holiday. It said the rise was linked to spread of a highly-contagious Omicron subvariant of Covid-19.

The country recorded 180,803 new Covid-19 infections, including 567 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 21,682,816, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Wednesday’s announced tally of new cases was up 114.9 percent on the 84,128 cases recorded in the prior 24-hour cycle.