Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the owner and operator of Solaire Resorts & Casino, expects 2017 to be a banner year for the company after registering a 275-percent increase in net income in the first nine months of the year to P5.96 billion.
Bloomberry said nine-month gross gaming revenues rose 23 percent to P34.57 billion year-on-year, driven by record VIP volume, mass table drop and electronic gaming machine coin-in.
Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino, the company’s hotel business in South Korea, also contributed to the growth with gross gaming revenues surging 122 percent and contributing P324 million.
“We continue to grow across all sectors, and hope to see this uptrend continue until the end of the year. Our top line and bottom lines are positive and, despite some minor hiccups, I am confident that 2017 will be a banner year,” Bloomberry chairman and chief executive Enrique Razon Jr. said.
Despite increased competition, Solaire’s VIP gross gaming revenues rose 23 percent to P16.743 billion while mass table drop increased 22 percent to P27.08 billion. Its EGM coin-in climbed 31 percent to P136.688 billion.
Non-gaming revenues rose 44 percent to P2.46 billion, driven mainly by new shows in the Theatre, the opening of The Shoppes as well as improved hotel occupancy in both the Bay and Sky Towers at Solaire.
The average hotel occupancy stood at 90.9 percent, up 6.7 percentage points from the 84.2 percent year-on-year.
Bloomberry booked a net income of P1.9 billion in the third quarter, up 31 percent a year ago, on consolidated gross gaming revenues of P11.64 billion, an increase of 18 percent.
The company is expected to start developing its second hotel and casino project in Quezon City next year. The planned mixed-use development, which will sit on a 1.5-hectare property in Vertis North that Bloomberry acquired from National Housing Authority in 2014, is expected to be completed after two years.
Prime Metroline Holdings Inc., the holding company and controlling shareholder of Bloombery, in October sold 350 million shares representing a 3.18 percent stake in the gaming firm that owns and operates Solaire Resort & Casino. The shares were placed to international institutional investors
Prime Metroline remains the largest shareholder with 65.58 percent of the company’s shares outstanding after the transaction.
