GGRAsia – PH Resorts shifts talk to Emerald Bay phase one by 2Q

PH Resorts shifts talk to Emerald Bay phase one by 2Q

Aug 17, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc, a Philippine-listed firm controlled by local entrepreneur Dennis Uy, has modified the language it is using to describe the timing for the launch of its upcoming Emerald Bay casino resort (pictured in an artist’s rendering) at Mactan, Cebu.

It is “expected” that the first of its two phases will be “completed in the second quarter of 2022,” the group said in its second-quarter results, filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

In a June filing, the group had mentioned aiming to finish phase one of Emerald Bay in the first quarter, 2022.

In a July press release, the firm had mentioned the first phase of Emerald Bay was “scheduled to open by the second quarter of 2022.”

In the July statement, PH Resorts had said it was actually aiming to open the casino and some hotel space “by the end of 2021”.

In its Monday regulatory filing, the group stated it expected to start hiring staff for Emerald Bay’s gaming and hotel operations, and “fill a number of managerial and administrative roles” in the company’s main office, “in the fourth quarter of 2021”.

In Monday’s second-quarter results, PH Resorts said it widened its comprehensive loss judged year-on-year, to just under PHP138.44 million (US$2.8 million), from PHP112.22 million in the prior-year quarter.

Judged on a half-year basis, such loss increased to almost PHP277.1 million, from just under PHP169.2 million a year earlier, said the firm.

On the same date, the group’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by about PHP7.32 billion, it further noted.

“The group has ongoing plans for suitable capital-raising and refinancing options including the conversion of its bridge loan to a long-term facility, and a planned equity offer between the third and fourth quarter of 2020,” said PH Resorts in its latest quarterly filing.

Covid-19 had “directly impacted the operations of the group,” in terms of the slowdown in economic activity it had occasioned in the Philippines, stated Monday’s filing.

The firm added the pandemic “could have a material impact” on the group’s 2020 financial results and even periods thereafter,” due to the fact the crisis was still “evolving”.

On July 31, Cebu City – which had been under a so-called “modified enhanced community quarantine” since July 16, had been downgraded to general community quarantine, covering the period up to Sunday (August 16).

On Saturday, the national government said Cebu City would stay under general community quarantine until August 31.

Cebu City had been under the strictest form of lockdown devised by the country’s authorities – “enhanced community quarantine” – from June 15 to July 15.