Macau’s Paradise Entertainment Ltd. published its financials for the first quarter of the year and the results don’t look good. The electronic gaming equipment (EGM) manufacturer saw its revenue drop 6.3% year on year and its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) plummet five times that much.
Revenue came in at $36.8 million for the period, of which $3.898 million came from EGMs. A year ago, Paradise reported first-quarter revenue of $6.47 million.
Because of the drop in performance, Paradise saw its EBITDA drop from last year’s gain of $1.758 million to a loss of $50,962 this year.
Paradise had seen gains as it prepared to install gaming terminals at MGM Cotai before that venue opened in the first quarter of last year. That launch helped boost the company’s profits in 2018.
Paradise also operates two casinos – Kam Pek Paradise and Waldo. They reported a slight combined increase in revenue to $32.9 million, while Adjusted EBITDA came in at $5.389 million. Between the two, Waldo was the stronger performer, seeing its gross gaming revenue (GGR) climb 18.8% to $16.766 million. Kam Pek, however, saw its GGR dip to $42.667, a drop of 5.5%.
At the end of the quarter, Paradise was holding about $42.04 million in the bank or in cash and had another $4.076 million in gambling chips. It is working on paying down the debt of $11.18 million that it has in secured bank loans, of which at least $649,764 will become due within the year.
Paradise is expected to seek approval from shareholders this month to buy back some of its shares. It has reported that it will ask investors to approve a deal that will see it purchase up to 10% of its issued shares and allocate new shares at a nominal rate of 20% of the issued share capital. The plan could, if effective, give Paradise chairman Jay Chun a 66.63% stake in the company, up from the current level of 59.96% that he has personally and through interests that he controls, mainly August Profit Investments Ltd. The deal, however, would not reduce the aggregate number of public shares to believe 25%.
