Bloomberry Resorts saw its net income fall 38.8% to Php1.13 billion in the three months to 30 September 2018, with the company’s bottom line hit hard by high interest expenses and a run of bad luck in the VIP segment at its flagship Philippines integrated resort Solaire.
Solaire booked a slight 1.9% increase in gaming revenue in 3Q18 to Php11.71 billion, due primarily to a 37.8% improvement in mass revenue to Php4.14 billion. Slot revenue was also on the up by 15.7% to Php3.60 billion with both mass table drop and slots coin-in recording all-time quarterly highs. But VIP revenue plummeted by 26% despite volume increasing from Php190 billion in 3Q17 to Php208.50 billion this time around.
Solaire’s VIP hold rate was just 1.9% for the period, down from 2.83% last year, with Bloomberry stating that VIP revenue on a normalized basis would have risen by 50.8%. Notably, total visitation for the third quarter of 2018 was just under 1.64 million, up by 11.7% year-on-year.
In Korea, Bloomberry saw a 28.1% increase in GGR to Php193.5 million, stating, “The significant increase in gross gaming revenue was attributed to the increased level of play in the VIP segment as a result of the highly competitive marketing programs of Jeju Sun.”
That improvement was offset however by soaring interest expense due to the syndicated loan facility Bloomberry obtained earlier in the year to help fund the purchase from PAGCOR of the land parcels upon which Solaire sits.
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