GGRAsia – S. Korea’s Paradise Co 1Q profit down 62 pct

S. Korea’s Paradise Co 1Q profit down 62 pct

May 10, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

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.