Travellers 2015 income falls 26.2%

Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., operator of the Resorts World Manila casino complex in Pasay City, saw its profit slide in 2015 on foreign exchange losses and decline in gaming revenues, its annual report showed.

Travellers, a venture between Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and Malaysia’s Genting Group, said full-year net income fell 26.2 percent to P4.02 billion last year compared to 2014.

The company reported a 14.7-percent slide in gaming revenue to P24.22 billion, mirroring the weakness in gaming hubs in the region like Macau.

Specifically, the company said volume for its VIP segment fell 31.7 percent while the mass segment also slipped 2.7 percent. Its win rate, nevertheless, improved with a blended rate of 4.8 percent in 2015 against 4.2 percent in 2014. The win rate for the VIP segment was also higher at 2.8 percent against 2.5 percent last year.

Travellers also recorded P765 million in unrealized foreign exchange losses over bonds it issued.

It said in a statement yesterday that full-year profit would have been 19 percent higher if the exchange rate remained the same as the level in 2014.

Travellers nevertheless recorded growth from its hotel, food and beverage segment. Revenues here increased 9 percent to P2.47 billion in 2015. Resorts World Manila continued to enjoy high occupancy rates last year, with Maxim’s at 86 percent, Remington at 90 percent and Mariott Hotel at more than 86 percent.

The company noted that complimentary and promo rooms for Maxim’s accounted for 64 percent of occupancy last year, higher than 62 percent in 2014. For Remington, these accounted for 39 percent of occupancy in 2015, down from 52 percent in 2014.

In its statement yesterday, Travellers highlighted its profitability despite the challenging environment.

“The local integrated resort industry continues to grow and evolve,” Kingson Sian, president and CEO of Travellers, said in the statement.   Miguel R. Camus