Nomura cuts Genting Bhd 2016, upgrades on 2017 outlook

Feb 20, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Japanese brokerage Nomura has reduced by 7.5 percent its forecast for full-year 2016 normalised net profit at Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd. It now expects such profit to be approximately MYR1.61 billion (US$361.4 million), compared to its earlier estimate of nearly MYR1.74 billion.

Genting group is the parent, respectively, of Genting Malaysia Bhd, Genting Singapore Plc and Genting Hong Kong Ltd. The firms between them have casino investments in Malaysia, the United States, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, and offshore cruise markets.

Nomura said in a Friday note: “We reduce our core earnings for Genting Bhd by 8 percent in full-year 2016, as we build in lower estimates for property/U.S. businesses, partially offset by higher earnings from the U.K.”

But analysts Tushar Mohata and Alpa Aggarwal said they were upgrading Genting Bhd’s stock to ‘buy’, as they “believe the stock should continue its recent run backed by a corresponding re-rating in its subsidiaries, Genting Malaysia and Genting Plantations”.

Referring to the under-renovation gaming venue Resorts World Genting, near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, the Nomura team added: “As we highlight in recent reports, we expect the rally to continue for Genting Malaysia and Genting Plantations, due to a progressive increase in the Malaysian resort’s capacity; strong fourth-quarter results and continued rally in CPO [commodity pool operator] prices.”

Genting Malaysia has invested heavily in a revamp of its Resorts World Genting casino complex – Malaysia’s only casino resort – in the belief the move will attract new customers and retain others, in the face of regional competition.

The opening of new dining facilities at Sky Avenue at Resorts World Genting, and “enhanced gaming” at the uplands property, “should mean higher earnings in 2017-2018,” wrote Nomura in a February 10 note.

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