Despite strong Q2, Bloomberry’s first semester bottom line down 12%

Integrated gaming resort developer and operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. grew its second quarter net profit by 52 percent year-on-year to P2.45 billion on higher gaming revenues across all gaming market segments.

For the first semester, however, Bloomberry’s net profit dropped by 12 percent year-on-year to P4.65 billion, attributed to lower foreign exchange gains and higher interest expenses from the full drawdown of a P73.5-billion syndicated loan.

The 10-year syndicated loan was tapped in 2018 from a group of lenders to finance investments and working capital requirements.

As such, interest expenses surged by 62 percent year-on-year to P2.77 billion in the first semester. Bloomberry also incurred a foreign exchange loss of P194.3 million, a reversal of the P647.51 million gain in the previous year.

Total gross gaming revenue (GGR) at Solaire for the second quarter was P14.62 billion, 19 percent higher year-on-year.  Growth was driven by higher win rate in VIP or high-roller segments as well as record levels of mass table drop and electronic gaming machine (EGM) bets.

Solaire’s VIP and EGM GGR went up by 32 percent and 26 percent year-on-year, respectively, to P6.182 billion and P4.363 billion, while mass table drop rose by 14 percent year-on-year to P12.51 billion, its highest recorded quarterly level. However, mass table games revenue fell by 3 percent year-on-year to P4.08 billion as the hold or win rate declined to 32.6 percent from 38.3 percent in the same quarter last year.

In the second quarter, Solaire Korea continued to offer competitive casino programs which boosted gaming revenue to P135 million, up 157 percent.

For the six-month period, total GGR grew by 10 percent year-on-year to P28.62, mostly attributable to Solaire Resort & Casino.