Bloomberry bets on profit swing this year

MANILA, Philippines - Bloomberry Resorts Corp. expects to swing to profitability this year as it wipes out its bad debt and revenues continue to improve, according to ports tycoon and casino magnate Enrique Razon.

“The outlook is far better this year because we’ve cleaned up all the problem accounts. It should be positive this year because of much lower cost and no more bad accounts and bad debt… and more revenues. It looks positive,” Razon said.

Bloomberry owns and operates Solaire Resort & Casino inside Pagcor’s 100-hectare Entertainment City in Paranaque,  and Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino in Korea.

Last year, the company incurred a net loss of P3.375 billion, a reversal of the P4.07 billion profit reported in 2014.  The weak performance was attributed to higher interest expenses from additional loan drawdowns and P998 million loss from its Korea operations.

Total revenues grew seven percent to P34.36 billion, largely coming from gaming operations in the Philippines. Of the total amount, gaming contributed 94 percent while hotel, food and beverage accounted for five percent. The balance of one percent came from retail and others and interest income.

The company’s Korea operations accounted for just a little over one percent of total revenues.

Total expenses increased 51 percent to P26.66 billion, mainly due to the full-year effect of operating the Sky Tower that opened in November 2014. The Korea operations accounted for five percent of the company’s total expenses.

Razon expects  the local gaming industry to be more competitive as the number of casino operators in the Entertainment City grows.

“The market is growing but supply is growing faster than the market.  The market is not growing as fast as the industry wants it to. When the (casinos) open, they open all at once,” he said.

However, he said the company was prepared to face a more competitive environment given its continued expansion.

“You have to be as competitive as you can.  You have to have a very nice casino, you have to give good programs to your players. As long as they enjoy, they will keep coming back,” Razon said.

The company remains keen on entering new markets that allow casino operations.

Bloomberry is also one of three shortlisted bidders to construct and operate the first ever casino resort on the island of Cyprus. The two others are Nagacorp of Cambodia and a consortium of Macau’s Melco and Hard Rock Resort Cyprus.