GGRAsia – NagaCorp posts US$147mln 2021 loss, highlights recovery

NagaCorp posts US$147mln 2021 loss, highlights recovery

Feb 08, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Casino developer and operator NagaCorp Ltd reported a US$147.0-million loss for full-year 2021, compared to a US$102.3-million profit in the prior year.

The outcome “reflected the impact” from a period of “voluntary temporary suspension of business operation in response to the Covid-19 situation in Cambodia,” said the firm in a Monday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company stated that the impact on its operations was “mitigated by the gradual and satisfactory recovery” of its business volume and revenues in the mass-market segment since the resumption of casino operations on September 15, “and the implementation of rigorous operating cost controls”.

The group has a long-life monopoly casino licence for the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, via its NagaWorld resort complex (pictured), and also has a development project in the Russian Far East. The casino at NagaWorld was shut from early March to September 15.

The firm did not declare a dividend for the latest reporting period.

Despite the closure, NagaCorp was able to generate positive earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). The group’s EBITDA stood at US$15.6 million in 2021, compared to US$265.2 million in full-year 2020.

Group-wide revenue for 2021 was nearly US$225.9 million, down on the US$878.7-million in the previous year. Gross gaming revenue (GGR) from casino operations amounted to US$223.5 million, compared to US$869.6 million in 2020.

Full-year 2021 VIP market revenue was US$64.4 million, down from US$534.2 million a year earlier, while mass-market table revenue was US$66.5 million, compared to US$174.3 million in 2020, said the group.

Revenue in 2021 from “premium mass market” for table games – described by the company as involving a rolling chip programme – stood at US$48.9 million, down from US$78.7 million in the prior year. Revenue from electronic table game operations stood at just below US$44.0 million, compared to US$82.4 million in 2020.

NagaCorp said that during the fourth quarter of 2021, it recorded sequential growth in its mass-market business volumes. “Despite a longer business closure period in 2021 (about 6.5 months) as compared to 2020 (about 3.5 months), the company witnessed a quicker recovery of business volume post the second re-opening,” it stated.

The company said it continued to see “the growth trajectory carried through January 2022”. That was despite a strike in December by some former and current workers of the NagaWorld complex.

In mid-December, a labour union had announced that staff at NagaWorld were to strike after unresolved disputes with the resort operator, and following inconclusive results of government-mediated talks between management and staff. The company has said that operations at NagaWorld “remained normal” throughout the period.

NagaCorp said that as of December 31, it had cash and deposits amounting to US$125.1 million.The group added that following the full repayment of the 2021 senior notes – in the amount of US$300 million plus interest – the company “will not have any debt repayment obligation until July 2024”.