Genting Hong Kong cut losses during 1H18

The casino cruise ship operator posted a €120.8 million loss for the first half of the year, 30% less than 2017.

China.- Casino cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong revealed its results for the January-June period and revealed it cut its loss by 30% to €120.8 million. The group also recorded a 46% increase in revenue to €665 million for the six months ended 30 June 2018, as compared with €455.7 million for the same period in 2017.

Genting also revealed that cruise revenue increased 36% to €548 million in for the first half of the year, compared with €402 million from the year before. Meanwhile, net cruise revenue for the period increased by 41% to €439 million year-on-year, from €311 million in 1H2017.

Cruise adjusted EBITDA, excluding the start-up costs for new ships in 1H2017, improved to €53.8 million in 1H2018 from EBITDA of US$15.3 million in 1H2017. However, the improvement in cruise adjusted EBITDA was partially offset by a lower cost capitalisation into shipbuilding costs for the shipyards in 1H2018 as a result of a lower than expected production level in the shipyards.

The company has just approved in June the disposal of all of the company’s remaining shares in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) in order to look into new investments. 99% of the shareholders decided to begin a disposal process to be carried out over the next months in which the company will sell its 3.15 million shares (1.4% stake).