GGRAsia – Okada’s Universal signals 9 pct profit dip fiscal year

Okada’s Universal signals 9 pct profit dip fiscal year

Feb 15, 2016 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp – an investor in the Manila Bay Resorts casino project in the Philippines – says it expects to record an 8.6 percent year-on-year fall in profit in the fiscal year ending March 31.

It estimates such full year profit will be JPY9.30 billion (US$81.9 million), on net sales in likelihood up 13.9 percent.

The firm – controlled by pachinko and casino gaming entrepreneur Kazuo Okada (pictured) – added that the dividend forecast for the full fiscal year “is to be determined”.

In its fiscal results for the nine months ending December 31 – which Universal Entertainment reported to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on February 9 – the group reported its profit rose 88.5 percent year-on-year to nearly JPY3.48 billion. It additionally said its net sales went up 30.2 percent from the prior-year period, to JPY61.22 billion.

The group didn’t give specific commentary on the reasons for the jump in profit in the nine months to December 31.

It did mention there had been “changes in accounting policies accompanying revision of standards, etc,” that were applicable from the start of the current financial year.

Net income per share in the period was JPY47.38, and on a diluted basis, JPY47.37.

Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc, a company also controlled by Mr Okada, was given in September an extension in its construction timetable for Manila Bay Resorts, a venue located at Entertainment City, in the Philippines capital Manila. The property is now scheduled to launch in December 2016.

Manila Bay Resorts – a multi-phase development – has been described as an approximately US$2-billion scheme.

Construction of the casino resort project “is proceeding and has reached the stage of installing the glass facade and performing other work,” the firm said in its latest filing.