LET Group flags 2022 loss of US$52mln, Hoiana repays loan

Mar 20, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Hong Kong-listed LET Group Holdings Ltd says it expects to report a 2022 loss of approximately HKD408.8 million (US$52.1 million) compared to a loss of HKD527.5 million in 2021.

LET Group – formerly known as Suncity Group Holdings Ltd – has had, in the course of its business, interest in a number of casino projects in the Asia-Pacific region, including in Vietnam and the Philippines.

The company also has an interest – via Hong Kong-listed Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd and its units – in a hotel and gaming business called Tigre de Cristal in the Integrated Entertainment Zone of the Primorye Region, near Russia’s Pacific port of Vladivostok.

LET Group said in a Friday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its reduction in annual loss was linked to “an increase in revenue from continuing operations of approximately 33.9 percent” in year-on-year terms in 2022, which, the firm said, was “mainly attributable to the increase in revenue from the operation” of Tigre de Cristal.

The company noted its 2022 reduced loss was despite the difficult trading conditions in 2022 amid travel and other restrictions linked to Covid-19 countermeasures.

With effect from April 2022, LET Group ceased its “travel-related products and services, and hotel and integrated resort general consultancy services businesses”.

Contributing to the firm’s loss were an impairment loss of HKD74.3 million; the share of loss of a joint venture of circa HKD160.9 million; and finance costs of HKD195.1 million.

LET Group said it expected to announce its 2022 annual results before month-end.

In a separate filing on Sunday to the Hong Kong bourse, LET Group referred to a 2020 shareholder loan and subsequent advances it had provided to the Hoiana casino resort in Vietnam, a project to which it has been linked. The firm said it had last week received repayment in an aggregate amount of approximately US$114.8 million, (circa HKD895.4 million) including interest, relating to what it termed those “overdue” loans.

LET Group stated it expected to record a gain of HKD515 million arising from the repayment.

The outstanding balance of loans and advances provided to the operating unit of Hoiana – 50-percent owned by a subsidiary of LET Group – now amounted to US$31.2 million, “representing the outstanding balance of the equity loans to a joint venture which are interest-free, unsecured and no fixed repayment term”, the firm added.

Immediately prior to the repayment, LET Group had provided shareholder loans in the aggregate principal amount of approximately US$129.0 million related to the Hoiana project, according to its Sunday filing.

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