GGRAsia – NagaCorp’s first half net profit up 49 percent

NagaCorp’s first half net profit up 49 percent

Aug 13, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Cambodia casino operator NagaCorp Ltd said gross gaming revenue at its Phnom Penh gaming resort NagaWorld (pictured) rose by 42 percent year-on-year to US$255.4 million in the first half of 2015. The firm issued on Wednesday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange its unaudited results for the period.

The company reported net profit of US$101.0 million for the six months to June 30, up by 49 percent from the prior-year period. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 53 percent year-on-year to US$132.8 million.

In the VIP segment, NagaWorld’s rolling chip turnover for the six months to June 30 reportedly jumped 50 percent from a year earlier to about US$3.6 billion. In the mass market, table “buy-ins” rose 11 percent year-on-year to nearly US$262 million. Slot machine “buy-in” was up 10 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2015, to US$629.3 million, the company said.

Revenue from gaming tables increased by 17.4 percent year-on-year to US$163.4 million in the six-month period, the firm added. Revenue from electronic gaming more than doubled to approximately US$92 million, compared to US$41.2 million a year earlier. The higher figure includes a negotiation fee of US$40 million paid by a group of investors that will work with the firm to operate a new electronic games business at NagaWorld.

In Wednesday’s filing, NagaCorp said a growth in visitors from some “gaming-centric countries” has been “one of the drivers of the group’s business growth”.

Total visitor arrivals to Cambodia grew by 4.6 percent year-on-year to 2.3 million tourists in the first half of 2015, data from the country’s Ministry of Tourism show. Most visitors came from Vietnam, followed by China and South Korea, with these top three countries accounting for 46 percent of total tourist arrivals to Cambodia in the first half of the year. Visitors from China increased by 22 percent year-on-year to 335,042 tourists during the period.

NagaCorp declared an interim dividend of US$0.0267, payable on September 17.

The company additionally announced that NagaCity Walk, a shopping complex it is constructing next to NagaWorld, in the Cambodian capital, is facing a half-year delay. NagaCity Walk was scheduled for physical completion by the third quarter of 2015, with operations commencing by the first quarter of 2016, according to a February filing.

“Based on the current state of the project, NagaCity Walk with its retail mall is scheduled for physical completion by the first quarter of 2016 and expected to commence operations in the third quarter of 2016,” the firm said on Wednesday.

NagaCorp broke ground in May on its planned gaming resort in the Russian Far East. “Budget for first phase will be in range of US$150 million to US$200 million,” the company chairman Tim McNally told GGRAsia last month.

On Wednesday, the company reaffirmed that it expects the project near the port city of Vladivostok to “commence operation not later than 2018”.

“The group believes that its strategy of diversifying its business geographically and expanding into a new casino market will drive revenue growth in the long term,” NagaCorp said.