City of Dreams Manila saw a significant drop in VIP revenue during the first three months of the year, causing one of its parent companies – Premium Leisure Corp (PLC) – to record a 44 percent annual drop in gaming revenue from the property.
According to the most recent stock exchange filing by the company, PLC’s gaming revenue share from COD Manila totaled just PHP401.19 million ($6.97 million).
The group did not provide a breakdown of the exact fall in VIP revenue during the period. AGB has reached out for comment on the group’s plans to increase market share from the segment.
PLC’s parent company, Belle Corp, announced last week that it had seen casino revenue from City of Dreams Manila rise by 50 percent in 2023, to $41.7 million, citing improvements in both mass and VIP amongst a company shift to increase more local and international visitation.
City of Dreams is not the only property to see drops in the first quarter, as other operators also experienced slowdowns – particularly in the first two months of the year.
Chinese visitation has yet to reach expected levels and the four IR operators in Entertainment City are all vying for their piece of the Korean and Taiwan markets to improve their VIP and premium mass figures, while also pushing local mass.
PLC also generates income from equipment lease rentals, which saw a 95 percent fall in revenue during the first quarter, down to just PHP9.44 million ($164,000). However, ‘lease and commission income’ hit some PHP129.46 million ($2.25 million), some 24 percent of overall income. The group handles a lottery operation under Pacific Online Systems Corporation for the Philippine lottery.
PLC’s income for the quarter was down by 40 percent annually, to just PHP540.1 million ($9.4 million), even as costs were decreased just 2 percent, to PHP304 million ($5.3 million).
PLC’s net income was down 53 percent, to PHP272.71 million for 1Q24, while EBITDA was down 47 percent, to PHP343.9 million ($5.98 million).
The company notes it doesn’t foresee any liquidity problems for the next 12 months, despite the drop in income.
Premium Leisure Corp recently announced that it was intending to take the company private, and delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange, with approval from the board on March 11th.
