Strong revenues boost Belle Q1 profit

MANILA, Philippines — Strong revenues lifted the profit of Belle Corp. by 13 percent to P524 million during the first quarter.

Belle, one of the portfolio investments of Sy family’s SM Investments Corp., generated revenues of P1.42 billion during the quarter, nine percent higher than the P1.3 billion recorded in the same quarter last year.

The company said its core operations during the first quarter remained strong., with its share in the gaming revenues at City of Dreams Manila through subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC)’s wholly owned PremiumLeisure and Amusement Inc. rising by 12 percent to P486 million.

Its revenues for the land and building lease of City of Dreams Manila, meanwhile, was stable at P588 million.

Belle’s integrated resort in PAGCOR’s Entertainment City is being leased on a long-term basis to Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., which holds an operating agreement with PremiumLeisure and Amusement.

Aside from lease income, the company earns gross gaming revenues from City of Dreams Manila through its over 99 percent ownership in PLC and owns approximately 1.5 hectares of presently undeveloped land from across the site.

Belle’s revenues from its real estate operations in Tagaytay Highlands also jumped by 57 percent in the first quarter to P143 million from last year’s P91 million, while revenues from distribution utilities at the estate went up by 18 percent year-on-year to P72 million.

Belle owns significant real estate assets in the Tagaytay Highlands, Midlands and Greenlands complexes where it develops premium residential resort projects south of Metro Manila and holds majority proprietary shares in its exclusive club and golf facilities.

Pacific Online Systems Corp., which is 50.1-percent owned by PLC, likewise registered stable revenues of P129 million for the three-month period.