Belle Corp casino revenue rises in Q1
The company’s casino revenue from its share of gaming at City of Dreams Manila rose by 7.8 per cent year-on-year.
The Philippines.- The tourism and leisure developer Belle Corp, a co-licensee of City of Dreams in Manila, has reported that casino revenue was up 7.8 per cent year-on-year to PHP432.6m (US$7.7m) in the first quarter.
The company’s aggregate net income was up 5.2 per cent year-on-year to PHP462.4m (US$8.22m). Total revenue was down 1.5 per cent year-on-year to PHP1.30bn (US$23.14m).
Revenue from the lottery services arm, Pacific Online Systems Corp (POSC), which leases online betting equipment to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, posted revenue of PHP129.5m (US$2.31m), flat in year-on-year terms. Belle, via Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC), controls 50.1 per cent of POSC.
Income from real estate activities decreased by 6 per cent to PHP739.7m (US$13.17m). Of this amount, PHP588m (US$10.47m) came from leasing land and buildings at City of Dreams Manila to the Philippine unit of Melco Resorts.
In March, Belle Corp. announced through a company filing that it has no intention to acquire Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s interests in City of Dreams (COD) Manila in the near future. The company issued the statement after an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer suggested that Belle Corp would be the “most logical buyer” of City of Dreams if Melco chose to leave the deal under which it operates the gaming area of the integrated resort.
The article cited unnamed sources saying that Belle would be interested “if the price were right”. However Belle Corp said in a statement: “Please be advised that while Belle is not in a position to confirm the accuracy of the statements about a possible exit of Melco from the Philippines, it can confirm that any buy-out of Melco’s interests in COD Manila is not part of Belle’s plans for the immediate future.”
