Genting Singapore

[Thriftville]

Published June 05, 2013
Temasek unit buys into Manila integrated resort
By
Nisha Ramchandani
print |email this article

FULLERTON Fund Management Company (FFMC), a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, has bought a 5.02 per cent stake in Melco Crown Philippines Resorts Corp.

FFMC has acquired 222.2 million Melco shares, according to the company, which is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Melco is the Philippine unit of Nasdaq-listed Melco Crown Entertainment, which is backed by Lawrence Ho, a relative of Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho.

Jeffrey Fang, associate director of corporate affairs for Temasek, in response to a query from BT, said: "As a matter of policy, we do not invest directly in casinos or tobacco companies at the Temasek level - this is a deemed interest due to the aggregation of the direct or indirect investment stakes held by the Temasek subsidiaries."

[LOVE YOURSELF]

this stock is DEAD................

[cyclone]

this stock is DEAD................

What is the reason for the statement 'this stock is DEAD' ? What do you mean by DEAD ? Thanks.

<not vested>

[felixleong]

Yes please elaborate

[KopiKat]

I think DEAD is a new local acronym for 'Didn't Eat Any Dinner', which in local lingo means No Strength because of No Dinner ie. prices no strength to move up...

Jokes aside, I thought the recent Q2 results look rather decent, with topline & bottomline showing improvement y-o-y and q-o-q (but q-o-q not meaningful as their biz appears to have seasonal effect eg. school hols for non-gaming segment). Still in my watchlist but not vested as I don't see any good story... yet.

[CityFarmer]

I think DEAD is a new local acronym for 'Didn't Eat Any Dinner', which in local lingo means No Strength because of No Dinner ie. prices no strength to move up...

It is always something new to learn... haha...

Genting is not in my watch list, not due to its performance, but due to personal preference not to touch any counter related to gambling...

[LOVE YOURSELF]

this article may interest you ....... happy reading ........

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-09...mpics.html

[Boon]

Japan casinos would get Vegas-style regulator under legalization plan
TOKYO | Thu Oct 3, 2013 10:11pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/0...0P20131004

[Boon]

Genting's fortune to gallop ahead in 2014: Macquarie

Goh Eng Yeow
The Straits Times
Monday, Jan 06, 2014

LADY Luck seems to be a bit slow in smiling on casino operator Genting Singapore, even though Chinese New Year - usually a price booster - is barely a month away. As 2014 kicked off, Genting has found itself trapped within a trading range as it ended 0.34 per cent higher at $1.475 for the week. This is a big contrast from the buoyant mood at this time last year when it jumped as much as 11 per cent in the run-up to Chinese New Year. Still, there are traders who are keeping their fingers crossed that the Year of the Wood Horse will be luckier for Genting. If anything, most of them will be glad to see the last of the Year of the Water Snake during which the casino operator appeared to be dealt a bad hand as its share price found itself caught in a tiresome game of snakes and ladders. After hitting a year-high of $1.625 in early February last year, the stock sank to a low of $1.385 in April. It then rebounded to $1.61 at the start of May only to get caught in a big sell-off which sent it plummeting as low as $1.305 in the next three months, as the US central bank flagged its intention to scale back its vast money-printing programme. But looking ahead, Macquarie Research is hopeful of better times for the casino operator. It said in a recent report: "Genting is the best play on Singapore's continuing visitor arrival growth. It runs a high traffic casino in Singapore's protected two-player market which has 25-year concession visibility." Macquarie is confident that Genting can "sustain high single-digit volume growth over the next several years, supported by mid-single-digit Singapore visitor arrival growth and rising income level in the region". But it noted that one reason for investors' disdain is Genting's much higher headline forecast price-earnings ratio of 18.9 times, as compared with its Macau rivals. "But on an ex-cash basis, the price-earnings ratio drops to 13.8 times which we think is cheap," it added.

This ratio is a widely used measure of the share price in relation to company profits. The only problem with trying to forecast Genting's earnings is that as a casino, it can be hit by low "hold" rates - meaning that its customers enjoyed higher success in their bets. Macquarie said: "This can cause volatility in quarterly results, and indeed, we have experienced a few such quarters in 2013." This issue was cited by some research houses as the reason why they are not so hot on Genting. JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Fong noted in a November report that both volume and VIP luck factor can fluctuate significantly for Genting and that can be a drag on earnings multiples. "We believe that the political pressure and mounting bad debt risk of the operators may limit growth." Still, the next 12 months may be crucial to Genting, as it scours for opportunities to boost its earnings such as the possible opening up of the Japanese gaming market. If that materialises, Macquarie believes that Genting's expertise as a developer of integrated resorts, rather than as a pure casino operator, will put it in a good light to gain entry into Japan.

http://business.asiaone.com/news/genting...-macquarie

(not vested)

[greengiraffe]

S Korea is no virgin ground for gaming and locals are not allowed into all the casinos there except one. Separately the target Chinese market is also slowing - I think combination of slowing GDP in China and increase supply of casinos around the region...

Genting ventures into South Korea

Published on Feb 08, 2014


HONG KONG - Casino operator Genting Singapore and Chinese property developer Landing International Development will develop a US$2.2 billion (S$2.8 billion) casino resort in South Korea, joining global gaming firms rapidly expanding across Asia to court wealthy Chinese punters.

The tie-up, announced in Hong Kong yesterday, marks Genting's first foray into South Korea, an increasingly popular destination for Chinese tourists, who flock there to gamble and shop, thanks in part to easier visa rules.

Genting Singapore's parent company, Genting, operates a sprawling gaming empire from the Bahamas to Singapore.

The project, to be called Resorts World Jeju, will be located on Jeju Island, which is already popular with wealthy Chinese tourists. The complex will also include luxury hotels, a mall and a theme park.

A mock-up of the complex showed roller coasters, hotels with whimsical, castle-like facades and replicas of monuments like the Taj Mahal.

South Korea forbids its citizens from gambling in casinos outside of Kangwon Land, an isolated resort located three hours by car from Seoul. The country has 16 foreigner-only casinos, whose primary customers come from China and Japan.

Many Asian countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, are building large-scale casino resorts, hoping to attract Chinese punters and imitate the success of Macau, the world's casino capital, which rakes in seven times more annual gaming revenue than Las Vegas.

With its eyes firmly on the Chinese, one of South Korea's biggest gaming firms, Paradise, said last October that it was building a US$1.7 billion casino resort in Incheon with Japanese gaming firm Sega Sammy Holdings.

REUTERS

PLAY OF THE WEEK
China slowdown shows in casinos

Eyes on Genting after Macau, MBS revenues miss mark

Published on Feb 08, 2014

Although 50 per cent to 60 per cent of VIPs patronising the casino at Resorts World Sentosa come from China and Hong Kong, a trader said it would do better than MBS because of strong growth in its business among Asean clients. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

By Goh Eng Yeow Senior Correspondent

CHINA market watchers set great store by data such as the manufacturing figures produced by global lender HSBC to determine the health of the Chinese economy.

But some traders use a simpler measure - the takings which the Macau gaming sector gets each month - to measure Chinese economic activity.

It is reasonable to assume that if the giant China economy is doing well, more well-heeled Chinese will make their way to Macau's glittering casinos.

Investors were already worried by the lacklustre purchasing managers' index compiled by HSBC showing the mighty mainland Chinese manufacturing sector had suffered a weak start to the year.

Then came word that growth in the Macau gross gaming revenue for January had missed consensus estimates.

And in a week when the Shanghai stock market was closed until yesterday for Chinese New Year festivities, Macau casino plays in Hong Kong got hammered when the news was released on Wednesday, though they later staged a strong rebound.

So did Genting Singapore, even though its weakness earlier this week was also attributed to a wider market sell-off as foreign investors turned jittery and sold everything in sight across the region, as they retreated to the relative safety of markets in the United States and Europe.

Now, opinion appears to be divided as to whether Genting Singapore is worth venturing into, after retreating as much as 4.34 per cent during the week.

Yesterday, it ended 4.5 cents higher at $1.39, following news that it had teamed up with Chinese developer Landing International Development to jointly develop a US$2.2 billion (S$2.8 billion) casino resort on South Korea's Jeju Island.

Credit Suisse had noted in a report that Macau gaming revenue had risen 7 per cent to 28.7 billion patacas (S$4.59 billion) last month, from the corresponding month last year. This was lower than market estimates of 11 per cent to 14 per cent.

But the lacklustre showing in Macau gaming revenue is largely due to an extended slowdown in the VIP business last month, it added, as the mass market business stays supported by growth in mainland visitor arrivals.

The same weaker trend had also showed up at Marina Bay Sand (MBS), rival of Genting's Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino, which reported that its fourth quarter operational earnings had fallen 31 per cent to US$259 million from the third quarter.

One trader said RWS may not be expected to produce as weak a set of results as MBS, given the strong growth in its VIP business among Asean clients. In contrast, MBS relies heavily on mainland Chinese.

"The trend in RWS' VIP strength began in the third quarter and could start to show in Genting's financial results on Feb 20. If its fourth quarter results could confirm RWS' lead in the VIP business, it will be a strong catalyst for the stock," he said.

While China is blamed for the lacklustre showing in Macau casinos and MBS, Deutsche Bank feels it may provide a silver lining for RWS as its macro economic outlook improves, since 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the RWS VIPs come from China and Hong Kong.

But keeping a neutral rating on the stock, Nomura said that with Singapore's maturing casino market, any upswing in Genting's earnings is only possible through a sharp jump in VIP volume or a deployment of its huge cash balance in overseas ventures.

engyeow@sph.com.sg