Gains due to ops in Cambodia, Vanuatu
Hong Kong-listed gaming firm Amax International Holdings posted exceptional results for the year ending March 31. On June 28, the company declared revenues of HK$62.2 million (US$7.9 million), a 445.6 percent year-on-year increase on 2017 revenue of HK$11 million.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, the group’s net loss for the year was down substantially from HK$988.5 million to HK$50.7 million “due to the result of continuing cost streamlining efforts made by the group and the reduction of the recognition of impairment losses during the year.”
Amax credited strong results in its business in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, where revenues soared 168.8 percent to HK$17.7 million. In 2014 the group acquired a 60 percent equity interest in Forenzia Enterprises Ltd., which operates a gaming business in Vanuatu under an interactive gaming license.
Amax also declared revenues of HK$34.1 million from its recently acquired gaming operations in Poipet, Cambodia. Last November Amax made a deal to rent a VIP room with 13 baccarat tables at Genting Crown Casino, a deal that will last into 2021.
“The management of the company is of the view that Poipet, where the VIP room is located, has potential to become another well-developed gaming city in Cambodia after Phnom Penh,” the company said. “It represents a valuable business opportunity for the company to promptly develop its gaming business in Cambodia.”
Together with Vanuatu, the company’s board believes that Amax “is gradually building a broad network in the gaming and entertainment business beyond Macau, which will also open up new revenue sources for the company. It also represents an opportunity for the company to establish its brand name in Southeast Asia.”
For all the positive news, Amax conceded there has been little progress made in its ongoing legal action against Greek Mythology (Macau) Entertainment Group Corporation Ltd., which operates and manages Macau’s Greek Mythology casino at Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel. Though Amax owns a 24.8 percent stake in Greek Mythology, the company has denied Amax access to their books and records since March 2010, IAG reported.
Greek Mythology closed in December 2015 on order of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The Macau Government Tourism Office subsequently ordered the Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel to close in July 2016. The hotel’s license was revoked in January 2017.
Last month Macau’s Court of First Instance ruled that an Amax subsidiary, Empresa Hoteleria de Macau, is the hotel’s rightful owner, not Victory Success Holdings, a unit of Suncity Holdings Ltd. In May, Suncity Executive Director Andrew Lo told Hong Kong’s Ming Pao Daily News that the subsidiary had taken over the property and planned to revitalize it. The court said no dice to that claim, giving Amax a minor victory in the case.
