GGRAsia – S.Korea’s Paradise Co posts strong Aug performance

S.Korea’s Paradise Co posts strong Aug performance

Sep 06, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Casino sales at South Korean casino operator Paradise Co Ltd soared in August. The company on Tuesday reported casino sales of KRW58.16 billion (US$52.6 million) for that month, up 19.5 percent from the prior-year period.

Judged month-on-month, August casino sales rose 18.4 percent compared to July.

The year-on-year increase in casino sales was sustained by a 22.7 percent rise in table game sales during the month of August, to KRW55.72 billion. Machine game sales however declined by 25.3 percent year-on-year to approximately KRW2.44 billion, the firm said in a filing to the Korea Exchange.

In Tuesday’s filing, Paradise Co said the numbers were for gaming sales at its casino division, comprising the properties Walkerhill, in Seoul; Jeju Grand on Jeju Island; Incheon Casino, near Incheon International Airport; and Busan Casino, in Busan city.

Seoul-based brokerage Shinhan Investment Corp said in a July note that Paradise Co was likely to see a “sharp earnings improvement” year-on-year in the third quarter of 2016, based on a low base of comparison.

Paradise Co’s casino sales for the first eight months of 2016 reached approximately KRW411.99 billion, a 9.6 percent increase from the prior-year period.

Table game sales for the January to August period rose by 10.8 percent year-on-year to about KRW388.22 billion. Machine game sales declined 6.6 percent in the first eight months to nearly KRW23.77 billion.

Table drop – defined by the company as the amount of cash exchanged for chips by customers at the table – for the January to August period increased by 1.8 percent year-on-year, to about KRW3.21 trillion.

Paradise Co reported net income attributable to shareholders of approximately KRW25.5 billion for the three months ended June 30, up by 135.8 percent from a year earlier.

Paradise Co is constructing a foreigner-only casino resort, called Paradise City, in Incheon. The scheme broke ground in 2014 and is scheduled to open in April 2017. Paradise City is a joint venture project between Paradise Co and Japanese pachinko operator Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.