Belle’s net profit surges by 37% on higher gaming revenue

Leisure estate and gaming firm Belle Corp. grew its nine-month net profit attributable to equity holders of parent firm by 37 percent year-on-year to P2.2 billion on higher gaming revenue from the thriving integrated gaming resort City of Dreams Manila (CoD Manila).

Including minority interest, Belle’s January to September net profit rose by 42 percent year-on-year to P2.65 billion.

“The best is yet to come,” Belle vice chair Willy Ocier said in a text message on Saturday.

For the third quarter alone, Belle’s net attributable profit amounted to P715.57 million, down by 15 percent from the bottom line in the same period last year. This was due to larger one-off gains from the sale of noncore investments last year alongside the surge in general and administrative expenses this year.

Excluding capital gains on sales of noncore investments, Belle said its recurring net income for January to September amounted to P2.5 billion, up by 64 percent from the level in the same period last year.

Belle’s share in the gaming income of CoD Manila—through its 78.7-percent owned subsidiary, Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC), almost doubled to P2.16 billion for the nine-month period, from P1.11 billion a year ago.
This was attributed to the continued growth of the gaming operations at CoD Manila.

PLC has an operating agreement with the Philippine affiliate of Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd. (Melco) that gives its half of gaming revenues at the gaming resort.

Belle also booked higher revenue from its real estate businesses. Total real estate-related revenue increased by 10 percent year-on-year to P2.4 billion for the nine-month period. Aside from its share in the gaming revenues of CoD Manila, Belle also generated P1.7 billion from the lease of the land and buildings comprising the integrated resort to Melco. Also, Belle earned P683 million from sales of real estate products and property management activities at its Tagaytay Highlands and Midlands residential and leisure complexes south of Metro Manila.

CoD Manila occupies 6.2 hectares of land and more than 30 hectares in building gross floor area. This integrated gaming resort has about two hectares of gaming space, more than 900 hotel rooms operated under three hotel brands—Crown, Hyatt and Nobu. It has another hectare of undeveloped land across the CoD Manila site.

Belle also owns significant real estate assets in and around Tagaytay City.