Enrique Razon Jr.
Integrated gaming resort developer and operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. expects to complete its new gaming hub in Quezon City by end-2022 or early 2023, considering the delays arising from the recent lockdown of Metro Manila.
Bloomberry’s flagship gaming hub Solaire along Manila Bay has also reopened to the public, albeit at very limited capacity, starting June 15, but company chair Enrique Razon Jr. said it’s still too early to give any indication on how the business would perform.
“Our number one priority now is to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests and employees. We have invested heavily and have gone to extreme lengths to make Solaire and our guests as sanitized and safe as possible. We have taken every precaution and beyond with meticulous attention to the most minute detail to achieve this,” Razon reported to stockholders in an annual meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Solaire has acquired and installed the “most technologically advanced” cleaning and disinfecting devices, materials, and equipment globally available, he said.
At the same time, Solaire is testing and training all employees, suppliers and contractors three times a month in its own adjacent testing facility, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, Razon said.
“I am confident when I say that there is no safer facility for the public in the country today then Solaire,” he said.
Given the delays arising from the lockdown of Metro Manila, Razon said the second hub at the Vertis North complex in Quezon City should be completed by the end of 2022 or early 2023.
“Construction has partially restarted and the period of lockdown can be reasonably added to the completion date. We strongly believe that the timing of Solaire North could well coincide with a full economic recovery,” Razon said.
Even during this crisis, Bloomberry is still on the lookout for opportunities to acquire assets whose potential and valuation make sense in this environment, he said.
“Given the great uncertainty, we will exercise prudence and restraint in managing our balance sheet and finances, and when this crisis has been overcome, we look forward to being an even stronger company,” Razon said.
Bloomberry’s record performance in 2019 will no longer reflect its short term future performance, until the pandemic is over, Razon said.
Last year, gross gaming revenues from Solaire hit P59.801 billion, growing by 17 percent and faster than the growth of the entire Philippine gaming market.
This year, the operations of Solaire were disrupted when it had to shut down operations when the government declared an enhanced community quarantine on March 14. The hotel segment remained open to house long-term staying guests.