GGRAsia – RWM posts US$12mln 2Q gaming revenue amid lockdown

RWM posts US$12mln 2Q gaming revenue amid lockdown

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

Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, the operator of the Resorts World Manila (RWM) casino complex in the Philippine capital, did manage to record some gambling revenue in the second quarter, despite its casino (pictured in a file photo) being subjected to forms of government lockdown since mid-March, due to efforts to stem the further spread of Covid-19 locally.

Such second-quarter gaming revenue was PHP566 million (US$11.6 million), representing a 91.5 percent decline from the PHP6.64 billion the complex achieved in the second quarter of 2019.

Resorts World Manila is a venture between the Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc, and Hong Kong-listed Genting Hong Kong Ltd.

Alliance Global mentioned the gaming sum in its first-half results filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday. Other Manila casino operators have stated they have been allowed by the authorities to stage respectively so-called “dry run” gaming operations in preparation for the market reopening properly.

Travellers International is 70-percent owned by firms associated with the Alliance Global brand, and 30-percent owned by Genting Hong Kong, according to the latest filing. Travellers International no longer files its own results to the bourse, as it delisted in October last year.

For the whole of the first half, the group recorded gaming revenue of nearly PHP6.12 billion, down 54.8 percent from the just-under PHP13.54 billion managed in the first half of 2019.

The firm said first-half net gaming revenues “slid 59 percent year-on-year to PHP4.4 billion as gaming operations were suspended from mid-March in compliance with the lockdown measures set by the [Philippine] government”.

It added that non-gaming revenues in the same period were down “44 percent to PHP1.7 billion due to foot traffic decline”.

“Travellers … among all the business segments, was hit the hardest by the pandemic-related measures imposed by the government that closed most businesses it has in Resorts World Manila which are considered non-essential,” said Alliance Global.

The parent company added: “The theatre, cinemas and retail outlets were closed and MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] activities stopped during the ECQ [enhanced community quarantine]. Hotel operations continued at limited capacity, following government-mandated restrictions.”

The disruption meant that revenues from Travellers International were “not enough to support the costs and expenses” of running Resorts World Manila.

The firm said separately in a press release: “The ongoing community quarantine, which put a temporary halt in casino gaming operations, has taken its toll on Travellers International.”

It added that firm “recorded a net loss of PHP3.7-billion in the first half this year, a reversal from its PHP845-million net income the year before.”

For Alliance Global as a whole, net profit fell 77.6 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, to PHP838 million, from nearly PHP3.75 billion in the prior-year period.

The first-half results filing noted that the country’s main island Luzon, where Manila is located, was under enhanced community quarantine from March 17 to May 15, which had “paralysed all non-essential activities and public transportation”.

After restrictions being eased first, to modified enhanced community quarantine – and then to general community quarantine from June 1 to August 3 – an uptick in the number of Covid-19 cases has resulted to a return to modified enhanced community quarantine, with effect from August 4, to Tuesday (August 18).