Philippine-listed Belle Corp, the company that owns the property where City of Dreams Manila stands, has reported a 30% year-on-year drop in consolidated net income in 2014.
Belle, which now focuses on real estate development, saw its 2014 overall net income drop to Php2.56 billion compared to Php3.6 billion in 2013. But according to the company, its net income in 2013 was inflated by net non-recurring gains by Php 1.5 billion. Despite the drop in net income, the company still saw its operating income improve by 21% on the strength of earnings it made from Melco Crown’s lease on the 6.2-hectare land in Entertainment City.
The integrated resort and casino only opened on February 2, 2015 after a soft opening on December 14, 2014, but Belle indicated in its results filing that accrued payments were still made in the pre-opening period of the resort.
The company also said that it had posted operating revenues of Php3.16 billion in 2014, up from the Php2.62 billion it posted in the same time period the year before. Likewise, increased income from listed subsidiaries, including Premium Leisure Corp and Pacific Online Systems Corp, contributed in the company’s increase in income. Part of the earnings from Premium Leisure Corp is tied into the gaming revenues of COD Manila.
Meanwhile, all that talk about the SM Group’s plans to develop a casino in Cebu may be premature, at least according to a filing issued by SM Investments Corp. late last week. Local Philippine newspaper the Philippine Star quoted SM Investments chief financial officer Jose Sio saying that it was considering a casino project on 30 hectares of available land in the Philippines’ Queen City of the South.
But once word of Sio’s comments made the rounds, the company played down the report, saying that no specific plans are on the table and that his comments were taken at out of context.
“At the Latham and Watkins Conference, we only mentioned the possibility of having a gaming project in Cebu given the development in the area,” Sio said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange. “However, the company does not have any specific plans to pursue this as it will depend on market condition and prevailing government policy.”
