Malaysia casino investors’ wealth declined in the last year
Forbes has revealed that the wealth of the founders of NagaCorp Ltd and Genting group has decreased over the past 12 months.
Malaysia.- Forbes has featured two major casino investors in its Malaysia’s 50 Richest list but both saw their net worth fall due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the past year. The wealth of Chen Lip Keong, founder of NagaCorp Ltd fell 41.3 per cent, while the wealth of Lim Kok Thay, founder of Genting Group, fell 13.0 per cent.
Keong now sits at number seven on the list, with an estimated wealth of US$2.7bn. Thay is at number nine with wealth of USUS$2.35bn.
In Thay’s case, his company has been in crisis since in January Genting Hong Kong Ltd filed for liquidation after a German court rejected a request to release US$88m for its German shipyard unit MV Werften.
Nevertheless, Genting Malaysia reported that Q1 revenue was up 176.2 per cent year-on-year to MYR1.72bn (US$391.3m). Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was MYR414.4m (US$94.2m), compared with a loss of MYR110.4m a year before.
As regards NagaCorp, the company posted gross gaming revenue of US$109.9m for the first quarter. That’s a decline of 13.7 per cent when compared to Q1 in 2021. However new gaming revenue was up at US$1.08m.
NagaCorp reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of US$60.5m, up 83.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 57.4 per cent year-on-year. Mass-market table games saw average daily net gaming revenue of US$572,000 and mass-market electronic gaming machines US$280,000.
