GGRAsia – Okada Manila results still below target: Universal

Okada Manila results still below target: Universal

Dec 18, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Japanese conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp says business performance at its Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippines has yet to achieve the targets set by the company.

“The company’s casino resort business has been steadily increasing revenue and profit generated over time, [but] its results still fell below target” year-to-date, Universal Entertainment said in a filing to the Jasdaq Securities Exchange on Monday.

Universal Entertainment mentioned the lackluster performance of Okada Manila (pictured) as one of the reasons for the company “to perform a downwards revision for both sales and income” for the full fiscal year 2018. Another reason contributing to the revision was a decline in sales of pachinko machines related to delays in ensuring product compliance regarding new regulations for the sector, said the firm.

The Japanese firm said its annual profit for 2018 was now forecast to be JPY176.70 billion (US$1.57 billion), compared to its previous estimate of JPY194.60 billion, a decline of 9.2 percent on the prior lookahead.

Universal Entertainment reported net profit of JPY167.97 billion for the first nine months of 2018, the firm said in November. In 2017 the company changed its fiscal year end from March 31 to December 31, so year-on-year comparisons were not possible regarding the third-quarter numbers, Universal Entertainment explained at the time.

In a separate filing also on Monday, the firm added it planned to pay a JPY50 year-end dividend, to be approved in February next year. On top of that, the group was planning to distribute in 2019 a JPY50 special dividend in commemoration of the company’s 50th anniversary.

Universal Entertainment said last week that in November Okada Manila posted gross gaming revenue of PHP2.91 billion (US$55.1 million) and adjusted segment earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of PHP527.8 million. Those indicators were a “record high respectively,” added the group at the time.

It stated that November GGR – judged sequentially – was up 9 percent, and adjusted segment EBITDA up 42 percent.

In a separate announcement also last week, Universal Entertainment said it had completed a private placement of notes worth US$600 million that would help pay for the construction of the Okada Manila casino resort. The property had a soft launch in December 2016. It subsequently opened a number of additional facilities in stages.

Universal Entertainment is engaged in a multifaceted, public dispute with its founder and former boss, Japanese gaming magnate Kazuo Okada, who is attempting to regain control of the company.