14-08-2008: Genting Intl 2Q net loss narrows to S$1.8m

KUALA LUMPUR: Genting International Public Ltd Co’s net loss narrowed to S$1.8 million (RM4.3 million) for the second quarter ended June 30 (2QFY08) from a loss of S$54.1 million a year earlier.

The results were affected by a one-off redundancy costs as well as costs of closure of certain casinos which are steps taken by the group to address the current challenging trading environment in the UK. Revenue fell 34% to S$126.3 million due to the poor performance of UK casinos.

Lower patronage and drops per head were exacerbated by lower win percentage due to luck factor in the current quarter, the company said in a statement yesterday.

For the first half of this year, the group recorded a drop of 69% in net profit, which came in at S$4.2 million from S$13.8 million a year earlier. Casino operations remained the largest revenue contributor to the group, with S$267.3 million in 2008, which was a drop of 35% from S$359.7 million in 2007.

It is the largest casino operator in the UK, with 44 casinos, comprising 39 within provincial estates and five in London including some of the finest casinos in the UK.

It had in June this year entered into a partnership with NEC Group in UK, through its wholly owned subsidiary Genting Stanley (Solihull) Ltd, to develope a leisure and development complex at The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham for £90 million (RM559.3 million).

Genting also said that the construction was progressing well for its integrated resort in Sentosa Island, Singapore, and the soft opening scheduled for early 2010 was on track.

As at June 30, 2008, more than S$2.9 billion in construction contracts ranging from road diversion works to reclamation, substructure and main builder works for four hotels, casinos, ballroom, showroom and retail area have been awarded.

Source