GGRAsia – Success Universe flags loss of at least US$33mln in 2022

Success Universe flags loss of at least US$33mln in 2022

Mar 17, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Success Universe Group Ltd, an investor in the Ponte 16 casino hotel (pictured), near Macau’s Inner Harbour, says it expects to report a 2022 consolidated loss in the range of HKD260 million (US$33.1 million) to HKD300 million, compared to a consolidated profit of HKD4.9 million in 2021.

Ponte 16’s casino is a satellite operation under the licence of Macau concession holder SJM Holdings Ltd.

Success Universe said in a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its worsening position was attributable to several factors.

They included a “substantial” fair-value loss on overseas listed equity securities held by the group, compared to a fair-value gain amounting to HKD87.7 million booked in 2021.

For 2022, there was also a fair-value loss on investment properties it held, “as well as a write-down of carrying amount of the group’s stock of properties”.

In 2021, by contrast, the firm had a fair-value gain on those properties, and a “reversal of write-down” on them, of approximately HKD8.6 million.

Success Universe noted that the fair-value losses on its overseas listed equity securities and investment properties; as well as write-down on its stock of properties, were “all unrealised in nature and are non-cash items which will not affect the cash flows of the group”.

Macau has 11 satellite casinos – including Ponte 16’s – that continued to operate under the city’s new 10-year gaming concessions that started on January 1. There had been 18 satellite casinos in the market in 2022, so venue-wise the sector has shrunk by circa 40 percent.

Success Universe’s modest 2021 profit was despite the difficult trading conditions amid the three years of travel and other restrictions linked to Covid-19 countermeasures in not only Macau, but also mainland China and Hong Kong, the latter key customer markets for Macau casinos. Success Universe had a nearly HKD142.0-million net loss in 2020, the first full year of the pandemic.