GGRAsia – Resorts World Manila op quarterly loss up at US$23mln in 1Q

Resorts World Manila op quarterly loss up at US$23mln in 1Q

May 21, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, the owner and operator of the Resorts World Manila casino resort (pictured), was “hit the hardest” of all Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc’s interests, due to “continuing pandemic-related restrictions in Metro Manila”, Alliance Global noted in its first-quarter results, filed on Friday.

Travellers International is a 50-50 venture between Alliance Global and cruise ship specialist Genting Hong Kong Ltd.

First-quarter consolidated net loss for Travellers International widened year-on-year to just under PHP1.1 billion (US$23.0 million), from PHP958 million.

Revenues decreased 30.3 percent year-on-year, to just under PHP3.8 billion, from PHP5.4 billion.

Alliance Global noted in its filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that pandemic-related restrictions for Metro Manila “began on March 16, 2020, that temporarily stopped or limited most businesses categorised as non-essentials in Resorts World Manila”.

Alliance Global said that quarter-on-quarter, Travellers International revenues jumped 5 percent, relative to the PHP3.3 billion revenues achieved in the three months to December 31.

But in the first quarter, “Travellers was caught unexpectedly by the resumption of stricter restrictions in the later part of March that left it with higher marketing spend than the preceding quarter”.

On March 27, the Philippine leader, President Rodrigo Duterte, ordered a period of so-called enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces as a Covid-19 countermeasure.

At that time, a number of gaming venues in Metro Manila confirmed to GGRAsia that they had temporarily suspended their operations.

Net gaming revenues at Resorts World Manila – i.e., after promotional allowances had been deducted – were just over PHP3.1 billion, down 22.8 percent on the just under PHP4.1 billion achieved in first quarter 2020.

The decline was attributed to “mobility restrictions, travel restrictions for foreign tourists, and capacity limitation” that reduced visits by patrons, said the Alliance Global joint parent.

Quarter-on-quarter, net gaming revenues had “improved 6 percent as restrictions had eased a bit since December,” said Alliance Global.

Non-gaming revenues for Travellers International – from hotel, food, beverage and other businesses, rentals and other operating revenues at Resorts World Manila – halved year-on-year to PHP0.6 billion due to a decline in “foot traffic as people were restricted from going out and dine-in capacity was limited,” said Alliance Global.

Nonetheless, non-gaming revenue “grew 1 percent quarter-on-quarter due to easement of restrictions until before the National Capital Plus bubble in March,” said Alliance Global.

Hotel occupancy rates in Resorts World Manila ranged from 35 percent to 73 percent for the first quarter, said Alliance Global.