Premium Leisure 1Q share of gaming revenue nearly halved

Apr 29, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

---

Philippine-listed Premium Leisure Corp reported net income of just under PHP279.5 million (US$4.9 million) for the first quarter of 2024, down 55.3 percent from a year ago.

Premium Leisure is an investor in City of Dreams Manila (pictured), a casino resort in the Philippine capital that is run by a unit of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. Premium Leisure earns a share – via one of its units – of the gaming revenue generated at City of Dreams Manila.

In its latest filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Premium Leisure said its unit’s gaming revenue share from City of Dreams Manila in the first three months of 2024 stood at PHP401.2 million, a decline of 43.9 percent from the prior-year period.

The company said the decrease in its share of gaming revenues was due to “lower” business volumes in the “VIP segment” of the casino at City of Dreams Manila.

Premium Leisure’s operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months to March 31 were PHP343.9 million, down 46.7 percent year-on-year.

Premium Leisure is a firm linked to Belle Corp, also a Philippine Stock Exchange-listed company. Belle’s total net income for the first quarter was PHP439.7 million, down 32.7 percent from a year earlier, on revenue that fell 14.2 percent year-on-year, to PHP1.33 billion.

In March, Belle announced it aimed to apply for the “voluntary delisting” of Premium Leisure from the main board of the country’s bourse. The parent company priced a tender offer for all of the outstanding common shares of Premium Leisure at PHP0.85 apiece.

The tender offer period ended on April 24, and payment and settlement of the shares tendered will run to May 9.

Under Philippine bourse rules, Belle will need to receive and accept offers for at least 95 percent of Premium Leisure’s outstanding capital stock, in order for the delisting to go ahead.

---

---