GGRAsia – Success Universe posts US$17mln 1H loss as revenue halved

Success Universe posts US$17mln 1H loss as revenue halved

Aug 31, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Success Universe Group Ltd, an investor in Macau casino hotel Ponte 16 (pictured), reported on Friday a first-half net loss of nearly HKD132.3 million (US$17.1 million). That compares with a profit of HKD48.7 million for the six months to June 30, 2019.

Revenue for the period was approximately HKD333.9 million, down 49.7 percent from a year earlier, said the company in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Success Universe is a joint venture partner with a unit of casino concessionaire SJM Holdings Ltd, in casino hotel Ponte 16, at Macau’s Inner Harbour district.

The first-half loss was mainly attributable to the group’s share of a “substantial loss” relating to the Ponte 16 complex “as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 since early 2020,” said Success Universe. The group’s shared loss relating to Ponte 16 was about HKD64.0 million in the first six months of 2020, compared with a profit of HKD56.6 million a year ago.

The group said additionally that the pandemic and associated travel restrictions were “inevitably hitting” Ponte 16’s gaming performance. As at June 30, the casino at Ponte 16 had 78 live-dealer gaming tables in operation, consisting of 69 mass-market tables, five high-limit tables and four VIP tables.

Success Universe said the casino hotel complex recorded negative adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the first half this year, to the tune of HKD93.3 million. That compared with a positive result of HKD206.1 million for the last corresponding period.

The casino investor said additionally it expected visitor volumes to Macau to “take time” to ramp up despite the resumption on August 26 of exit visas for Guangdong residents.

Guangdong residents beyond Zhuhai can now apply for Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) exit visas, while IVS applications for residents of designated cities in the rest of China will restart on September 23.

“The full resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme for mainland China in September 2020, should continue to be of benefit to the recovery, but it would take time for visitation to ramp up, while the timeline for easing of border restrictions and quarantine measures applied to Hong Kong and other countries is yet to be confirmed,” said the company.

Hoffman Ma Ho Man, deputy chairman and executive director of Success Universe, said in June in comments to GGRAsia that a planned extension of the Ponte 16 complex faced further delays as part of the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.