Genting Singapore announces new appointments at Resorts World Sentosa
The casino operator has named Lam Yi Young as deputy chief executive officer and Andrew MacDonald as chief casino officer.
Singapore.- Genting Singapore has announced two new appointments at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). Lam Yi Young has been appointed deputy chief executive officer and Andrew MacDonald chief casino officer.
Lam will assist RWS CEO, Tan Hee Teck, in the execution of strategies, management, the development of RWS’s business and day-to-day operational performance. He has 11 years in senior public sector leadership and previously served as chief executive officer of the Singapore Business Federation. He will join RWS on January 1 2023 pending a suitability assessment by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore.
MacDonald started working for the company on September 1, overseeing the overall casino business at RWS. He has more than four decades of professional, commercial, and operational experience in the gaming industry. He served as executive vice president of casino at Marina Bay Sands before becoming corporate senior vice president and chief casino officer at Las Vegas Sands.
The company said: “We welcome Mr Lam and Mr MacDonald as RWS continues its journey of recovery and transformation to deliver best in class tourism destination experience.”
Genting Singapore EBITDA to reach US$443m in 2022, analysts say
Analysts at Moody’s Investors Service have issued their credit opinion on Genting Singapore’s outlook for the rest of the year. They expect the casino operator’s earnings to improve as the Singapore casino market recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
They said Genting Singapore’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would increase to about SGD630m (US$443.0m) in 2022 and SGD930m in 2023. This would reflect a continued recovery in operating performance following the lifting of border restrictions in April this year. However, earnings are unlikely to return to 2019 levels until 2024-25.
Moody’s noted that Genting Singapore relies on Singapore’s tourism industry. Visitor numbers in August 2022 remain at around 40 per cent of 2019 levels. Meanwhile, the company faces utility and labour costs, as well as increased casino tax rates since March 2022.
The agency said Genting Singapore’s credit metrics will remain strong thanks to its net cash position. The company will be debt-free following the maturity of its SGD206m Japanese yen-denominated bonds in October.
However, the company’s credit quality is constrained by its parent company, Genting Berhad. The rating agency noted that Genting Singapore has historically been the largest contributor to Genting Berhad and holds the majority of the group’s consolidated shares in cash. Genting Singapore has an issuer rating of ‘A3’, considered “low credit risk.”
