Hong Kong-listed Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings Ltd reported revenue of nearly HKD29.7 million (US$3.8 million) in full-year 2023, an increase of 182.5 percent from the prior year. Such revenue represented about 36.3 percent of the 2019 levels, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gross profit last year increased to approximately HKD10.9 million, compared with a HKD139,276-loss in 2022. The group’s operating expenses decreased by 10.8 percent year-on-year, to HKD14.5 million last year.
“The sharp rise in gross profit performance was principally due to the increase in gross profit from the electronic gaming equipment business,” stated the company in a Tuesday filing.
Net loss after tax was about HKD1.9 million in 2023, an improvement on the HKD14.7-million loss in the prior year.
The group, via its Asia Pioneer Entertainment arm, is authorised in Macau to distribute electronic gaming equipment to the city’s six casino licensees, and also provides such technology to land-based casinos in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region. The group additionally gives technical support and consultancy on gaming equipment.
Full-year 2023 revenue from technical sales and distribution of electronic gaming equipment was HKD14.0 million, up 129.9 percent year-on-year. It represented approximately 47.2 percent of the group’s aggregate revenue last year.
Revenue in the consultancy and technical services business stood at circa HKD11.8 million last year, 288.6-percent higher than in 2022.
Allen Tat Yan Huie, the parent’s chairman and executive director, said in remarks included in the filing that the group’s business “improved gradually, picking up significantly by the second half of 2023”.
“While we incurred a slight loss for the whole of 2023, we were profitable by the second half of the year,” he stated.
Mr Huie added: “Going forward into 2024, we expect this resurging growth to continue,” Mr Huie said, adding that the group expects “customers to order new machines” as the units distributed by the company “have proven to be both profitable and reliable”.
“We are working with suppliers to introduce new machines and products to meet the growing demands of the mass gaming market,” the executive added. “We expect sustainable growth for our overall electronic gaming equipment business.”
