Property and gaming company Belle Corp. said Monday it will spend up to P4 billion this year, mostly to settle obligations with the contractors of City of Dreams Manila.
“The capex for this year is about P3 billion to P4 billion. A lot of it is for finishing up on payments of contractors of City of Dreams,” Belle executive vice president and chief financial officer Manuel Gana said at the sidelines of the stockholders’ meeting.
The company’s capex amounted to P3 billion in 2015.
City of Dreams Manila is the second of four integrated resorts to open in the 297-acre Entertainment City, a Las Vegas Strip-style casino hub that competes with Macau and Singapore. It has been in operation since December 2015, when it held a soft opening.
City of Dreams Manila has 981 hotel rooms under the Crown Towers, Nobu and Hyatt brands. It operates 380 gaming tables, 1,700 slot machines and 1,700 electronic table games.
Gana said Belle was expected to sustain growth this year, mostly driven by gaming subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp.
“We do expect a significant higher earnings from our gaming subsidiary. So, we are very excited about the prospects for Premium Leisure. As you know we get a share of gaming earnings of City of Dreams,” he said.
PLC, which is 79-percent owned by Belle, is the beneficiary of an operating agreement with Melco Crown that entitles it to a share in gaming earnings of City of Dreams.
Data showed while Macau and other Asian gaming markets contracted in 2015, the Philippine gaming market grew 17 percent. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. said total industry gross gaming revenues hit P130 billion last year, up from P111 billion in 2014.
“With the completion of the ramp-up of City of Dreams Manila’s gaming operations, and with our real estate development business expected to continue the improvement we saw in 2015, 2016 looks like it will be another exciting year for your corporation,” Belle president and chief executive Frederic Dybuncio said.
Belle also owns significant real estate assets in and around Tagaytay City, a temperate mountain resort about 90 minutes south of Manila overlooking scenic Taal Lake and Mount Makiling.
Belle reported a net income of P1.42 billion in 2015, down 44 percent from P2.55 billion in 2014.
Belle said excluding non-recurring items, recurring net income in 2015 increased 29 percent to P1.33 billion from P1.03 billion in 2014.
Belle’s operating revenues surged 64 percent to P5.19 billion from P3.16 billion in 2014.