Landing Int’l warns investors it will book a net loss for 2018

Casino operator Landing International Development has warned investors that it expects to book a net loss for 2018.

On Monday, Landing issued a profit warning to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that previewed an expected net loss for 2018. The company didn’t offer a range of values for this expected loss, meaning investors will have to wait until the official results are issued in late March. Investors mostly took the news in stride, keeping the share price relatively unchanged ahead of the Lunar New Year market close.

Landing did say that the loss is attributable to the “absence” of around HK$657m (US$83.7m) in profit from discontinued operations of its lighting business in China and its gaming business in the United Kingdom. Another ‘absence’ of HK$209m stemmed from the reversal of impairment of trade receivables the company booked in 2017.

The company also booked higher expenses from its ongoing efforts to open its Jeju Shinhwa World resort casino in South Korea. Last November, the company announced that its scheduled 2018 opening had been pushed back to 2019 due to the Korean government slow-rolling the project’s occupation permits.