Recent gambles by Philippine-based Belle Corp look to be paying off, as the company announced on Monday that they recorded record revenues for 2018. This came on the strength of their casinos, which saw a drastic increase in profits.
According to documents filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, the company saw its annual increase rise by 10% to a total of PHP 3.6 billion ($69 million USD). The total amount of consolidated revenue also saw a dramatic increase of 6% to a total of PHP 8.5 billion ($160 million USD).
The dramatic increase in total revenue came as a direct result of gaming earnings. According to the report, Belle reported an increase of 23% in terms of its gaming revenue from the City of Dreams Manila casino.
This was not the only area where they saw a dramatic increase, however. The real estate arm of Belle Corp also reported an increase of 9% in revenue from 2017, going from P3.1 billion ($59 million USD) to P3.4 billion ($65 million USD). A huge portion of this revenue came from the leasing of land and buildings that were part of the Manila Melco Resorts and Entertainment project. This was an increase of 6% over what the company raised in 2017.
In February, Belle Corp had already announced that they were going to be providing a dividend of $0.00097 per share. This represented a tidy 14.4% increase over the dividend that was paid in 2018 and was expected to be paid out by March 22.
This was the third year in a row that the company provided a sizable dividend. The 2017 dividend rose 37.1% from 2016, and last years rose 26.3% over the prior year.
These have been clear indicators that the gambles that Belle Corp have undertaken have been fruitful, to say the least. In April 2018, the company announced that their plans to expand the City of Dreams Manila Resort and Casino. With hotel capacity already at 90% on average, the company realized that their gaming revenue was going to become stagnant if they did not upgrade.
Belle already owns a hectare of land that was adjacent to the Manila complex but expressed interest in purchasing independent plots that could still be used to create additional hotel and gaming operations. The company had already approached the PAGCOR to receive the additional gaming license that would be necessary for the operations of the new complex.
In addition, the 800 hectares of land that the company owns in Southern Luzon looks like it could become the next development for Belle. Plans are already in the works for a new gaming casino and resort to be designed and developed within the next 5 to 10 years.
