Financial services group Nomura has maintained its “Buy” rating on Genting Singapore stock, citing Thursday’s strong earnings announcement from the company’s local rival Marina Bay Sands (MBS) as evidence of further growth to come in the months ahead.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, MBS saw its net revenues more than double year-on-year to US$848 million in the three months to 31 March 2023, including an all-time high in mass gaming revenue to US$549 million. Rolling chip GGR was also 228% higher year-on-year and 129% higher quarter-on-quarter at US$279 million.
While Nomura analysts Tushar Mohata and Alpa Aggarwal noted that VIP volume growth and win percentage between MBS and Genting Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) can differ materially, “the strong results at MBS offer a positive read-across to Genting Singapore, which operates the only other casino in Singapore,” they wrote.
“Note that for Genting Singapore as well, GGR was already back to 90% of pre-COVID run rates due to its faster mass recovery by 4Q22, even as the Chinese recovery had not materialized significantly.”
The MBS results came despite Q1 visitation from Greater China reaching just 22% of pre-COVID levels, suggesting even more upside ahead.
As a result, Nomura is predicting VIP rolling chip volume at RWS to grow by 39% year-on-year in FY23, with mass table drop and slot handle to each grow by 10%.
“We expect progressive improvement in overseas visitor arrivals from China,” the analyst said, adding, “Flight capacity between Singapore and Greater China is on the path to recovery and we maintain our FY23F forecasts.”
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