NagaCorp’s net profit up by 7 pct in 2016

Feb 09, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Cambodia casino operator NagaCorp Ltd posted a net profit of US$184.2 million for 2016, up by 7 percent from the previous year. Revenue for the period increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year to US$531.6 million, with casino revenue accounting for 94.2 percent of overall income, the firm said in Wednesday in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The casino operator reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$256.1 million, up by 12 percent from the prior-year period.

The operator of NagaWorld (pictured), the only casino resort in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, said gross gaming revenue (GGR) increased by 4 percent year-on-year to US$500.8 million in 2016.

That included revenue of US$129.7 million from mass-market play, up by 7 percent year-on-year, and US$225.7 from the VIP segment, a slight increase of 1 percent. Revenue from electronic gaming machines (EGMs) reached US$145.5 million in 2016, up by 6 percent from the previous year.

NagaWorld’s VIP rolling chip turnover for 2016 jumped 11 percent from a year earlier to about US$8.71 billion, with a win rate of 2.6 percent, the firm said.

The 11 percent increase in VIP rolling chip turnover in 2016 “demonstrates the success of NagaWorld’s incentive programme in promoting NagaWorld to a wider range of operators and players in the region,” the firm said on Wednesday. “The group aspires to further penetrate the regional VIP market, by offering attractive commercial terms to junket operators and agents as a result of NagaWorld’s low cost structure,” it added.

NagaWorld had in place 241 gaming tables and 1,648 electronic gaming machines at the end of 2016.

NagaCorp is currently working on a hotel and gaming space extension to NagaWorld, named Naga2 and likely to be ready this year. “The TSCLK Complex (also known as Naga2) is undergoing fit-out and is expected to be operational in 2017,” said the Hong Kong-listed firm.

NagaCity Walk, a shopping complex that had a soft opening in mid-August, will connect Naga2 to NagaWorld.

NagaCorp is also in the early stages of building another casino resort in the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone near the Pacific port of Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East.

“Piling work on site commenced in 2016 in respect of the group’s gaming and resort development project in Vladivostok, Russia; which is scheduled for operation in 2019,” the company said in Wednesday’s filing. The company had stated in previous filings that it hoped to open the Russian scheme by 2018.

NagaCorp proposed a final dividend of US$0.082 per share, to be paid on May 15.

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