Star Entertainment Group posts poor results
Australian operator Star Entertainment Group reported its casino operations underperformed and profits were down 8.4% year-on-year.
Australia.- Star Entertainment Group, the Australian casino operator, revealed its most recent results. The company reported poor performance, with its profit going down 8.4% year-on-year.
The group revealed its net profit after tax only reached €136.8 million. It was dragged by a 30.7% dip in VIP turnover, to €25.9 million. According to Star Entertainment CEO Matt Bekier, quoted by Reuters, high-stakes gamblers wouldn’t take risks amid the US-China trade war.
However, the company informed “solid” domestic gaming growth. Still, chairman John O’Neill said it couldn’t offset declines in their international VIP business.
“The group remains focused on executing our long-standing strategy of investing to drive visitation and earnings to our network of properties in sought-after destinations,” Matt Bekier said.
Brighter forecasts
Incoming Asian high-roller gamblers’ spending had lowered in Australia recently. However, analysts in the country expect the Australian VIP market to see a potential recovery in 2020.
According to Macquarie Wealth Management analysts, there has been a “U-turn” in mainland Chinese sentiment. “We see (the trend) flowing into VIP confidence and driving an uptick in volumes.”
“We now include a VIP recovery in the financial year 2020. While we remain cautious on [19H2] VIP volumes, with our view that Macau VIP bottoms in the June 2019 quarter, we are optimistic and now forecast a recovery,” analysts told the Sidney Herald.
