Universal Entertainment reports loss of US$165m for 2021
Universal Entertainment Corp has recorded a JPY19bn (US$164.9m) loss for the fiscal year ending December 31.
Japan.- As forecast last month, Universal Entertainment Corp has reported a record loss of JPY19bn (US$164.9m) for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. Universal’s pachinko segment saw net sales fall 12.3 per cent to JPY54.19bn (US$469m) due to reduced machine sales.
Adjusted segment EBITDA declined 29.9 per cent to JPY15.42bn (US$133m). Unit sales fell from 139,152 in 2020 to 127,094 in 2021.
The company said: “The Covid-19 pandemic that started early in 2020 continued to severely impact the Japanese economy during 2021.
“There was a brief recovery backed by progress with vaccinations and government measures to support the economy. However, the outlook for the economy remains uncertain because of another wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant, the global semiconductor shortage and other problems.”
It added: “The number of pachislot and pachinko machines supplied remained low as people were reluctant to visit pachinko halls because of declarations of states of emergency and other government pandemic safety measures.
“The extension of transitional measures concerning the removal of machines that comply with previous regulations also held down sales.”
Looking ahead to the future, Universal said that with the deadline to replace existing pachinko machines due in January 2022, there is an expectation that a new line of machines will “significantly invigorate the Pachislot and Pachinko market”.
In the last quarter, Okada Manila’s gross gambling revenue grew 68.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter to PHP7.01bn (US$137m). Okada Manila’s full-year GGR was PHP18.92bn, up 23.4 per cent when compared to the previous year. However, the figure was below the numbers seen prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In October, Okada Manila signed a US$2.6bn merger agreement with 26 Capital Acquisition Corp that let the company go public in the United States. It is expected the merger will close in the first half of next year and it will provide the casino operator with US$275m in cash proceeds that will be used for growth and other corporate purposes.
