GGRAsia – Macau Legend expects annual loss up 85pct-plus for 2017

Macau Legend expects annual loss up 85pct-plus for 2017

Feb 15, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino services firm Macau Legend Development Ltd expects to record an increase of more than 85 percent in year-on-year terms for its consolidated annual net loss regarding full-year 2017.

The group however added – in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday – that it remained “confident in its current business strategies, and will actively seek opportunities for business expansion so as to maximise value for its shareholders, partners and customers.”

Macau Legend posted a net loss of HKD277.5 million (US$35.5 million) for full 2016. That compared with a loss of HKD268.5 million in the previous year.

The firm said it planned to announce its full 2017 results in March.

Macau Legend stated that the expected increase in net loss was mainly attributable to “an increase in depreciation arising from the operation of Legend Palace Hotel since early 2017; an increase in finance costs due to the cessation of interest capitalisation related to Legend Palace Hotel during the year; and an increase in impairment on property, plant and equipment and a decrease in potential revenue due to Typhoon Hato.”

Legend Palace (pictured) – the latest development from the Hong Kong-listed company – opened to the public in February 2017. The scheme’s casino and hotel operations were suspended for nearly four weeks due to flooding linked to Typhoon Hato, which hit Macau in August. It was the strongest recorded storm in the city for 53 years.

Macau Legend is the promoter of Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, a waterside entertainment zone near the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal on Macau peninsula. It launched to the public in 2006. Early on, Fisherman’s Wharf launched the Rocks Hotel – which does not have a casino – and a nearby gaming venue with no hotel called Babylon Casino. Since then, the open-air site has undergone extensive remodelling, including a canopy for part of its main avenue.

Macau Legend has so far completed two out of three new hotels planned for a revamp of the site: the Harbourview Hotel, which opened in February 2015 and does not have a casino; and a casino hotel called Legend Palace.

Last November, it was announced the group had reached a deal to dispose of the Landmark Macau casino hotel for a consideration of HKD4.6 billion. Landmark Macau is also located on Macau peninsula, and is an approximately 15-minute walk from Macau Fisherman’s Wharf.

Macau Legend also has moved into operations overseas. It “formally took over” the management and operation of a casino scheme in Laos with effect from September 2016. The property – previously known as Savan Vegas Hotel and Entertainment Complex – has been rebranded Savan Legend.

In addition, Macau Legend began construction in February 2016 of a EUR250-million (US$311.4 million) casino resort in the African island nation of Cape Verde.