Genting SkyWorlds to bring higher visitor arrivals to RWG, analysts say

Analysts at RHB Research predicted the reopening of Genting SkyWorlds, Genting Malaysia’s new outdoor theme park will lead to higher visitor arrivals to the IR.

Malaysia.- Since Genting Malaysia’s Resorts World Genting was allowed to reopen on a limited basis, visitor levels started to increase and although the figure is still far away from pre-pandemic levels, the company is confident it will continue increasing as the vaccination rate continues to rise. 

Analysts at RHB Research visited the venue and referred to the opening of Genting SkyWorlds as a possible “crowd-puller for other RWG facilities, potentially leading to higher-than-expected visitor arrivals.“ 

According to The Star, the outdoor theme park could be allowed to open its doors in November, “just in time to capture the pent-up demand post reopening in the run-up to the year-end holidays.”

The casino operator had closed all of its services in June after the Malaysian Prime Minister announced a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown. Until then, the resort’s hotels, food and beverage outlets, shopping malls, retail outlets and other facilities remained open.

Genting Malaysia reported gaming revenue for the first half of MYR1.14bn, down 23.3 per cent year-on-year due to the closure of its venue. Revenue was up by MYR155.7m when compared to the previous year.

Genting outlook could be upgraded in six to nine months

Fitch Ratings has kept Genting’s credit outlook at “BBB-” due to uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic but says that could change in the next six to nine months if vaccination rates in key markets remain on track.

According to Fitch, Genting is expected to reduce its leverage level from six times this year to four times in 2022 and three times in 2023. It is also expected that comprehensive EBITDA will reach 80 per cent of 2019 levels in 2022 and full recovery in 2023.