Belle Corp. said Tuesday consolidated net income grew 9 percent in the first quarter to P413 million from P378 million a year ago, boosted by gaming earnings from City of Dreams Manila.
Belle said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the first-quarter financial performance sustained the company’s record of underlying earnings growth.
It said first-quarter net income comprised more than 30 percent of its full-year 2015 recurring net income of P1.3 billion, which in turn rose 29 percent from P1 billion in 2014.
Belle said operating growth in 2016 was fueled by growth in its share in the gaming income of City of Dreams Manila, through its 78.7-percent-owned subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp.
City of Dreams Manila includes two hectares of gaming space, more than 900 hotel rooms operated under three hotel brands (namely Crown, Hyatt and Nobu), the DreamPlay indoor family amusement park and two hectares of restaurant and retail space.
Premium Leisure’s gaming income share increased by P153 million or 78 percent in the first quarter to P349 million from P197 million in the same quarter last year.
“This was attributable to the ramp-up in gaming operations of City of Dreams Manila, which held its grand opening in February 2015,” it said.
Prime Leisure has an operating agreement with Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. that accords it a share of gaming revenues or earnings at City of Dreams Manila.
Belle paid a total of P2.9 billion (P0.275 per share) in cash dividends to its shareholders in 2015, comprised of a special dividend of P1.9 billion (P0.18 per share) in March and a regular dividend of P1 billion (P0.095 per share) in August.
Belle again paid a regular dividend of P1 billion (P0.095 per share) on March 29.
Belle’s principal assets include land and buildings at Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque City, which are being leased on a long-term basis to Melco Crown.
This property is the site of the City of Dreams Manila gaming and resort operations, which encompasses 6.2 hectares of land and more than 30 hectares in building gross floor area.
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.
These assets consist of premium residential properties for sale and 800 hectares of land held for future development, which are near two exclusive world-class golf clubs and one country club built by the company.
