GGRAsia – Kangwon Land slims dividend for 2018 as annual profit dips

Kangwon Land slims dividend for 2018 as annual profit dips

Mar 11, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Kangwon Land Inc, the operator of South Korea’s only casino resort open to locals, on Friday recommended a final dividend of KRW900 (US$0.794) per share for the year ended December 31, 2018. Such dividend is 9.1 percent lower than the one declared for the 12 months of 2017, according to company records.

In Friday’s filing to the Korea Exchange, Kangwon Land said the 2018 payout represented a dividend yield of 2.7 percent based on the present market price of the company’s stock.

The total dividend for full-year 2018 amounts to approximately KRW182.5 billion, the company said. The payout is subject to approval at the firm’s shareholder meeting on March 28, it added.

South Korean nationals are only allowed to gamble at Kangwon Land casino resort (pictured) in an upland area of Kangwon province – 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the country’s capital Seoul.

Profit for the operator of Kangwon Land fell by 32.1 percent year-on-year in full-year 2018, pressured by an 8.3-percent decline in gaming revenue, the firm said in February.

In the 12 months to December 31, Kangwon Land recorded aggregate revenue of approximately KRW1.44 trillion, down 7.1 percent compared to nearly KRW1.55 trillion in 2017.

The casino operator has been under political pressure to moderate the growth of its revenue. Kangwon Land has since April 1 reduced its daily opening hours, following an order of the South Korean government.

The company was also ordered to reduce the number of mass tables, from a maximum 180 to a maximum 160, starting January 1, 2018.