GGRAsia – Macau junket investor warns of significant 1H loss

Macau junket investor warns of significant 1H loss

Aug 22, 2014 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck, World

Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd, an investor in the profit stream of Macau junket firm Hengsheng Group, said it expects to “record a significant increase in net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2014”. The company had reported a net loss of HKD1.9 million (US$245,000) for the first six months of 2013.

The firm – which last week pledged US$3.14 billion for building a casino on the Pacific island of Saipan – said on Thursday the expected increase in loss is attributable “to the increase in administrative and other expenses due to the development of integrated resort business on the island of Saipan”.

Imperial Pacific’s subsidiary in Saipan is committed to build a multi-phase casino resort with 2,000 rooms. The company plans to build four luxury hotels, which will include “both private gaming rooms and public facilities”.

Imperial Pacific had said before it would distribute cash vouchers totalling US$10 million among all locally born adults in Saipan if it won a casino licence there.

The Hong Kong-based investor has also agreed that a theoretically refundable US$30 million deposit be paid into an escrow account, and any interest on it used by the government toward the cost of the annual licence for the first and fifth year of the licence.

Imperial Pacific said the loss related to the Saipan business “had been partially offset by the recognition of accrued revenue which was derived from the sharing of profit stream from Macau gaming business”.

Imperial Pacific – then called First Natural Foods Holdings Ltd – closed the investment deal in Hengsheng last March, paying HKD400 million for a share of the junket promoter’s profit stream. At the time it said the acquisition was expected to have positive impact on the financial results and cash flow position of the company.

In Thursday’s statement, the firm said the decline in profit margin of food products processing and trading business was also responsible for part of the expected loss in the first half of 2014.