Bloomberry’s first-quarter profit down on increased revenue

Bloomberry Resorts Corp. saw its revenues increase across all of its operating areas in the first quarter of the year. While this would be welcome news by most, the Philippine-based casino operator can’t jump with joy. Despite the increase, its profit fell by a total of 40% year-on-year.

The casino company presented its unaudited financial results to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday and indicated that its profit was just $42.5 million for the period. This was significantly lower than the $70.8 million a year earlier and Bloomberry explained in an accompanying press release that the decline could be attributed to “meaningfully lower foreign exchange gains and higher interest expenses.”

The company’s chairman and CEO, Enrique Razon, called the results “solid,” adding, “Our net revenues and EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] were driven by our highly-profitable mass gaming segments where our innovative customer experience and engagement programmes continue to reward us with a database of loyal patrons.”

In its gaming segment, which is the bulk of the company’s business, Bloomberry operates the Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila and the Jeju Sun Hotel and Casino on Jeju Island. The company saw its gross gaming revenue (GGR) dip almost 1% year-on-year to $260 million. Net revenue saw an uptick of 0.9%, but was offset by negative VIP GGR at Solaire of 15.9%. The venue’s VIP hold rate dropped 39 points to 3.22%, compared to the 3.61% seen a year earlier.