Leisure estate and gaming company Belle Corporation reported its net income for the first half of 2015 is 50 percent lower than in 2014 due to non-recurring gains that it enjoyed last year.
Belle Corporation’s net income suffered a 50 percent fall for the first half of 2015.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Philippine-listed company said its net income for the first six months of the year was at P836.5 million ($18.29 million). This amount is 50 percent lower than the P1.66 billion ($36.3 
million) net income posted in the same period last year.
Belle attributed the drop to the one-time gains that it enjoyed in 2014. According to the company, the non-recurring items from last year amounted to P1.25 billion ($27.43 million) that it earned from the P30.7 million ($673,762) after-tax gain from the redemption of the SM Investment Corporation’s—its parent company—retail bonds in August 2014, and the reversal of investment loss reserves of its subsidiary, Premium Leisure Corp (PLC), amounting to P1.219 billion ($26.75 million).
But if these extraordinary items were excluded, the company said its net income for the first half would have been 103 percent higher than its 2014 net income of P411.1 million ($9.02 million).
Meanwhile, Belle posted a total revenue of P2.75 billion ($60.57 million) for the first half, which is about 158 percent higher than last year’s P1.06 billion ($23.26 million). This increase was mainly due to gaming share of PLC from the City of Dreams Manila, which opened in February.
Belle’s assets include land and buildings at the Pagcor Entertainment City, which are currently being leased on a long-term basis to Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (MCE). The 6.2 hectares of land is currently the site of the City of Dreams Manila. Belle also has a share in earnings from City of Dreams’ gaming operations through PLC.
“The company’s operating growth in 2015 was attributable to higher revenue from its lease of the City of Dreams Manila property to Philippine entities controlled by Melco Crown Entertainment Limited,” Belle said in a statement.
The leisure estate and gaming company had already expressed its interest to bid for new licenses. Belle CFO Manuel Gana said they are “interested in bidding for any casinos outside Metro Manila.”
But the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) had already said it will only offer licenses after all the four projects at its Entertainment City are completed. So far, only the City of Dreams Manila and Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Resort are in operation.
Last week, Universal Corporation, its local subsidiary Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment and its Philippine partner All Season Hotel and Resort Corporation held a topping off ceremony for one of Manila Bay Resorts’ hotel towers in the Entertainment City zone. The $2 billion casino resort is scheduled to open in December 2016.
The fourth project, Genting Group and Alliance Global Group’s Resorts World Bayshore, is expected to be completed by 2018.
