Bloomberry net profit hits P2.3B as of June

Solaire Resort & Casino owner and operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. chalked up a P2.3-billion net profit for the first semester, a turnaround from the P1.03-billion loss in the same period last year.

“Strategic management decisions and focus on goals have borne better-than-expected results for Bloomberry Resorts. We expect this momentum to continue from hereon, as we expand our focus towards the upcoming opening of Phase 1A,” Bloomberry chair and chief executive officer Enrique Razon Jr. said in a statement on Friday.

For the second quarter alone, net profit surged by over 37 times year-on-year to P847 million on the back of a 62-percent jump in gross revenues to P6.78 billion.

Solaire’s Phase 1A expansion, which will open to the public by the fourth quarter of this year, will add more non-gaming amenities such as a 312-key all-suite five-star hotel, 1,710-seat Broadway-style theater, high-end retail area of about 5,000 square meters, night club, karaoke bar, cigar and whiskey bar, and meeting rooms.

Based on unaudited consolidated financial results for the first six months, Bloomberry’s gross revenues more than tripled to P14.158 billion from the previous year’s level.

Gross gaming revenues and non-gaming revenues for the first half hit P13.52 billion and P553 million, respectively. On a year-on-year basis, these segments grew by more than three-fold and 1.7 times, respectively, in turn attributed by the company to a substantial growth across all segments.

Gaming continued to be Bloomberry’s biggest cash cow, accounting for 95.5 percent of gross revenues. The hotel, food and beverage businesses combined with retail and other segment accounted for 4.2 percent with the balance of 0.3 percent represented interest income.

For the second quarter alone, gross gaming revenues increased by 66 percent year-on-year.

“The improvement was due to continued improvements in its marketing initiatives to drive revenues as well as to continually bring down costs by increasing efficiencies in its operations,” the company said.

Stripping out promotional allowances, net gaming revenues in the first half of the year grew by 184 percent year-on-year to P10.83 billion. In the second quarter alone, net gaming revenues grew by 56 percent year-on-year to P5.158 billion.

Net revenues for the first half of the year grew by 2.7 times to P11.46 billion. On the other hand, net revenues for the second quarter grew by 52 percent to P5.474 billion from the same period last year.

Bloomberry’s total expenses for the first half of the year totaled P8.48 billion, 55 percent higher year-on-year but substantially slower than the growth in net revenues. Total expenses in the second quarter alone grew by 8 percent to P3.95 billion.

Solaire is the first property to open in Pagcor Entertainment City, envisioned to be the country’s version of the Las Vegas entertainment strip. Doris C. Dumlao