The chairman and CEO of Bloomberry Resorts Corp., owner of the Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila’s Entertainment City, recently told Bloomberg TV that Covid-19 has made short work of business for 2020.
“Of course this year, you can write it off,” said Enrique Razon Jr., who added that his business is well-positioned to survive the draught, which has closed casinos around the world.
“Of course when you are closed there is no cash flow really, although we have long-term guests in the hotel who are staying put here,” Razon said. “But the cash in the group is pretty healthy.”
Even after casinos reopen, he said, people may be less inclined to spend money on recreation, including gambling. “I think people are profoundly impacted by the virus and the lockdowns, having to focus just on buying food, spending their money. The government has to give people cash.
“I think people will come out of this and the savings rate is going to dramatically increase … I don’t think consumer spending is going to recover that quickly.”
According to Inside Asian Gaming, the billionaire’s casino business saw consolidated net profit grow 38 percent to PHP9.9 billion (US$196 million) in 2019, but has since stalled. But don’t worry about Razon. He is also chairman and CEO of International Container Terminal Services Inc., a shipping company that saw a precipitous drop in business once the quarantine began, but which has begun to pick up. Meanwhile, the firm has been “working around the clock to accelerate the delivery of food and medical equipment to key locations around the country,” IAG reported.
“We are making a little bit of headway on a daily basis and pushing very hard,” Razon told Bloomberg. “Trucks and goods are able to move a lot freer and we’ve been pushing importers to open their warehouses to take deliveries, especially for the goods that are required to feed the people—foodstuffs especially, medical equipment, medicines … The people need to be fed, they need to be given medicine and the government needs all the shipments that have been coming in. The main thing is just to keep the economy flowing, goods flowing, get the infection rate down and we’ll see about lifting the lockdown.”
He added, “Lifting lockdowns in this environment is going to be very tricky. There has to be a plan, it’s not just one day to the next. I think a lot of people are underestimating what this is going to take.”
Bloomberry Resorts issued a statement last week declaring its intention “to make additional future investments in the interest of enhancing shareholder value… within a broader universe of possible opportunities.”
These new investments will include “gaming, hospitality and other non-gaming assets.”
The company pointed out it does not have “any particular investments or acquisitions that are under imminent consideration.”
In March, Bloomberry reported a 22 percent year-on-year increase in net revenues to PHP46.6 billion (US$932 million), with EBITDA for the year at PHP19.8 billion.
