Malaysian high rollers prevented from traveling to gamble have helped to buoy the performance of Resorts World Genting in Malaysia, which has bounced back to almost three-quarters of its pre-outbreak revenues.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, company figures put total visitation to the highlands resort at 66 percent of pre-Covid measures, with gaming revenue back to 74 percent. VIP players made up 64 percent of the total in the period. On the other side of the ledger, leisure and hospitality revenues are down more than one-third year-on-year to RM1.2 billion (US$294.44 million), but TA Securities analyst Tam Kan Meng said that level of performance is “satisfactory” given the ongoing crisis.
The firm is modifying its forecasts for Genting Malaysia for 2021, cutting its earnings projections by 30.4 percent to RM499 million and for 2022 by 1.8 percent to RM1.4 billion.
Nomura analysts also expressed surprise with the robust performance in Malaysia. “What really struck us [positively] was the revenue/margins generated by the Malaysian resort, with revenue at 66 percent and EBITDA at 79 percent of year-ago levels, and EBITDA margins of 36 percent in Malaysia,” they said.
Prior to the pandemic, the Genting Highlands resort had about 50,000 visitors a day. The number has been slashed to at about 15,000 a day due to the latest crackdown.
