GGRAsia – Ponte 16 posts US$21mln 1H EBITDA: Success Universe

Ponte 16 posts US$21mln 1H EBITDA: Success Universe

Aug 31, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Success Universe Group Ltd, an investor in Macau casino hotel Ponte 16 (pictured), said the property recorded adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of HKD167.8 million (US$21.4 million) for the first six months of 2023. That compares with a negative figure of HKD1.0 million in the prior-year period, said the company in a Wednesday filing.

The Hong Kong-listed firm said the group’s shared profit of the associates relating to Ponte 16 stood at HKD71.6 million, a sharp improvement from a loss of approximately HKD9.6 million in the prior-year period.

Success Universe is a joint venture partner, with a unit of casino concessionaire SJM Holdings Ltd, in Ponte 16, a property at Macau’s Inner Harbour district. The gaming venue is considered a “satellite” casino of SJM Holdings.

Casinos in Macau operated in the first half of 2022 in a low-revenue environment amid Covid-19 alerts and outbreaks either in Macau or mainland China. Pandemic-related travel restrictions were lifted from January this year onwards, helping to boost business volumes for the gaming and tourism industries.

As of June 30, the casino at Ponte 16 had 109 gaming tables, consisting of 103 mass tables and 6 high-limit tables, according to Success Universe.

The average occupancy rate at the Sofitel Macau At Ponte 16 hotel reached approximately 85 percent for the first half of 2023, compared to 46 percent in the first six months of last year.

The firm posted a group-wide net profit of just above HKD153.8 million in the first half of 2023, versus a net loss of nearly HKD125.5 million in the initial six months of last year. Success Universe said the improved results were linked to Ponte 16 reporting a profit for the period, and also a result of a HKD105.5-million fair value gain on the group’s overseas listed equity securities during the first half of 2023, compared with a fair value loss of HKD97.0 million for last year’s corresponding period.

In a press release issued by Success Universe on its first half results, chairman Sonny Yeung Hoi Sing was quoted as saying: “We are encouraged by the positive developments across diverse markets and sectors.”

Group-wide revenue for the period was just above HKD68.4 million, up 25.5 percent from the prior-year period, said the company.

The firm did not recommend the payment of an interim dividend, similar to its recommendation a year earlier.

Success Universe reported a loss of just below HKD287.1 million for 2022, compared to a profit of HKD4.9 million in 2021.

Hoffman Ma Ho Man, deputy chairman of Success Universe, told GGRAsia in June that a “three-storey mall” and an open-air “plaza” were being proposed to the local government as part of an extension to Ponte 16.