Belle Corp. proposed to partner Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp. to expand City of Dreams Manila using its one-hectare property adjacent to the gaming complex.
Belle president Manuel Gana said in an interview at the sidelines of the annual stockholders’ meeting the planned expansion would include additional non-gaming facilities like hotels and ballrooms.
“We have proposed to Melco for an expansion because we need more hotel rooms. We only have one ballroom and we need more swimming pools. So the ball is now in their court. We just have wait for their decision,” Gana said.
He said COD Manila, a 900-room hotel across three brands, had an average occupancy rate of over 90 percent.
Gana said the expansion based on preliminary discussions would involve non-gaming facilities because the casino complex still had room to add gaming tables and machines.
He said Belle was prepared to develop the one-hectare property if Melco opted not join the planned expansion. Gana said Belle was not rushing Melco to make a decision.
Belle through unit Premium Leisure Corp and Melco Resorts are co-licensees of COD Manila.
Meanwhile, Belle said net income in the first quarter of 2018 rose 10 percent to P857 million from P783 million posted in the same period a year ago.
Excluding capital gains from sales of non-core investments and extraordinary items, Belle’s recurring net income of P888 million in the first three months was 17 percent higher than P759 million year-on-year.
First-quarter revenues inched up 1.5 percent percent to P2.01 billion from P1.98 billion due to higher earnings from the lease of COD Manila’s land and buildings and real estate development.
Belle earlier made a regular cash dividend payment of P0.12 per share or a total of approximately P1.27 billion to common shareholders on March 23, 2018.
The payment was 26 percent more than the previous regular cash dividend of P0.095 per share paid on March 30, 2017.
Share price of Belle on Monday fell 2.9 percent to P3.34.
