Net profit at South Korean casino operator Paradise Co Ltd fell 62.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the firm said in a filing on Tuesday to the Korea Exchange. It gave no commentary on the reason.
Such profit was KRW14.60 billion (US$12.4 million), compared to KRW38.47 billion in the prior-year period.
Judged sequentially however, first quarter profit rose threefold from the KRW3.62 billion achieved in the fourth quarter.
Sales rose 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, being KRW156.97 billion compared to KRW151.38 billion in the year-prior period.
Judged quarter-on-quarter, sales for the first three months of 2016 fell 11.9 percent.
Paradise Co currently operates a network of five foreigner-only casinos located in three major cities in South Korea and on the country’s holiday island of Jeju.
The firm is also constructing a foreigner-only casino resort called Paradise City (pictured), in Incheon, near the main international airport serving the country’s capital Seoul. The scheme broke ground in 2014. Paradise City is a joint venture project between Paradise Co and Japanese pachinko operator Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.
Earlier this month, Kangwon Land Inc – the operator of the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble – reported net income of KRW142.81 billion for the first quarter of 2016, up by 7.9 percent from the prior-year period.
