Genting Singapore has reported gross gaming revenues of SG$339.9 million (US$255 million) at its Singapore IR, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), in the three months to 31 March 2023, up 45% over the same period last year and only down on the December 2022 quarter due to bad luck.
According to information published late Friday, the 1Q23 revenue result was down 9% on the December quarter but would have been 12% higher on a hold-normalized basis. RWS “continued to benefit from the ongoing recovery of regional travel and gaming demand,” the company said.
With non-gaming contributing SG$144.4 million (US$108 million), consolidated revenue for the period was SG$484.5 million (US$363 million), up 54% year-on-year but down 11% sequentially.
Adjusted EBITDA was 54% higher year-on-year at SG$191.7 million (US$144 million) with net profit more than tripling from SG$40.4 million (US$30.3 million) in 1Q22 to SG$129.2 million (US$96.8 million).
Despite the improvement, Genting Singapore said its results were still impacted by post-COVID travel impediments.
“The recovery of [the] non-gaming business was constrained by lagging overseas visitor arrivals from our traditional visitor source markets,” the company explained. “Airline capacity constraints have continued to cap incoming mass leisure tourist traffic. Elevated airfares during the festive seasons have also impacted visitor volume for the attractions, resulting in a 15% dip in the overall non-gaming revenue from the previous quarter.
“Looking ahead, as we continue with RWS 2.0 strategy, the Group is committed to enhancing RWS’ brand identity as a premium luxury destination that appeals to trendy and affluent customers.
“To be carried out in two major stages, we will be investing to enhance all our product offerings. The initial stage (RWS 1.5) involves re-inventing and innovating our facilities to upscale RWS’ destination appeal and achieve better demand from our target markets.”
Genting Singapore said it has now soft-launched the 389-room former Festive Hotel under a new Hotel Ora brand, taking the property’s hotel inventory to almost 1,600 keys, with Hotel Michael and Crockfords Tower next in line for renovations.
RWS’ central cluster, The Forum at RWS, will undergo an extensive transformation of its own from this month with the goal of elevating it into a “vibrant and sophisticated central lifestyle connector.”
“Its gross floor area will more than double to around 20,000 square-meters over three levels, providing a wide variety of upscale restaurants, specialty shops and iconic concept stores in a biophilic environment,” the company said.
