Genting Singapore

[greengiraffe]

Crown’s hopes rise as Abe signals end to casino ban

THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 03, 2014 12:00AM

Rowan Callick
Asia Pacific Editor
Melbourne
JAPAN’S Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has for the first time acknowledged the economic value of casinos following visits to two venues in Singapore, reinforcing the likelihood that legislation to permit their establishment will be introduced by the end of July.

The $40 billion-a-year potential of the Japanese gaming market makes it the top priority internationally for the Melco Crown business partners James Packer and Lawrence Ho. Mr Packer visited Tokyo in April with the business delegation accompanying Prime Minister Tony ­Abbott.

Last Friday, Crown resorts chief executive Rowen Craigie told Australia in China’s Century conference in Melbourne that “with Lawrence, we’re looking at the possibility that the Japanese government might introduce legislation to permit integrated resorts.

“Melco Crown Entertainment would be very interested if that opportunity arose.”

Mr Abe, in Singapore to present his controversial keynote address to the Shangri-La security conference, said after visiting the US-owned Marina Bay Sands and the Malaysian-owned Resorts World: “I think integrated resorts will be a key part of Japan’s economic growth strategy.”

Following a decade of discussion in Japan about allowing casinos, winning the 2020 Olympic Games for Tokyo proved a catalyst for the introduction of legislation that is now expected to be passed in the northern autumn.

Mr Abe said he would like MPs “to deliberate with a perspective of what needs to be done to bolster Japan’s attractiveness, and how to get people to visit”.

Last week Genting told Singapore Exchange that it had already established eight subsidiaries in Japan, and American billionaire Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend $11bn on developing a casino resort. Wynn and MGM Resorts said last month they planned initial public offerings for Japanese resorts, with local equity partners.

Japanese parliamentarians favour integrated resorts with restaurants, broader entertainment options and conference facilities as well as gaming. Betting on horse, boat and bicycle races is permitted in Japan.

Todd Nisbet, the Crown executive leading the Japan casino bid, has said: “We think a local partner is a key ingredient. There have been meetings with various companies in Japan.”

The chief Asia-Pacific economist at IHS Global Insight, Rajiv Biswas, has estimated that the construction phase of two massive casino resorts, if licences are granted, could add 0.2 per cent to Japan’s GDP growth.

[opmi]

^^^ Japanese service attitude would means better service compared to casinos staffed by PRCs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[piggo]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-03...-data.html

Galaxy Leads Casino Drop as Macau’s Revenue Growth Slows

By Vinicy Chan Jun 3, 2014 4:41 PM GMT+0800

Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. (27) fell the most in almost a month in Hong Kong trading, leading declines among casino operators as Macau gambling revenue grew by the slowest in four months.

Macau casino revenue rose 9.3 percent to 32.4 billion patacas ($4.1 billion) last month, according to data on the website of the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The growth was lower than the median estimate of 14.5 percent from seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“It’s a little disappointing,” Aaron Fischer, head of consumer research at CLSA Ltd. said by phone after the revenue report. “It indicated there’s a sharp drop at the end of month.”

Government limits on gambling tables have slowed capacity growth in Macau, after a 10-year boom transformed the southern Chinese city into the world’s biggest casino hub. Growth has also slowed amid concern a government crackdown on unauthorized debit card transactions made it more difficult for some gamblers to get cash.

Galaxy Entertainment fell 3.1 percent to HK$60.05, the biggest drop since May 8, at the close of Hong Kong trading. SJM Holdings Ltd. (880), Asia’s largest casino operator by revenue, slumped in the morning trading session, then extended the decline to 3.2 percent after the revenue figures were announced to close at HK$21.55. Sands China Ltd. (1928) fell 1.4 percent and Wynn Macau Ltd. declined 1.2 percent. The city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.9 percent.


Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Customers take photographs of a scale model of the Galaxy Macau casino resort, operated... Read More
VIP Segment

Casinos in Macau, the only place they’re legal in China, rely on high-rollers or VIP clients brought in by junket operators for more than 60 percent of revenue. The segment is usually defined as customers who wager at least HK$5 million ($645,000) per trip.

Resorts have sought to lessen that dependence by increasing the number of hotel rooms available and adding entertainment venues to lure more middle-class gamblers.

“The VIP segment is likely tracking below expectations,” Grant Govertsen, a Macau-based analyst at Union Gaming Group, wrote in a research note today. That’s partly because a nationwide anti-corruption crackdown by the government is discouraging some gamblers and because China’s economic growth is cooling, he said.

Mass Strength

Macau casino revenue will probably grow 14 percent this year as “mass market appears to remain very strong,” Govertsen added. His estimate is unchanged from levels before today’s figures were announced, he said.

CLSA’s Fischer also said he expects revenue to grow “at the mid-teens level” this year, partly on support from the mass-gaming segment.

Casino operators face land and labor constraints in Macau, a city about half the size of Manhattan. The Macau government has limited the number of gaming tables and caps the growth at 3 percent annually in the next 10 years to prevent the industry from growing too fast.

Gambling revenue in Macau rose 20 percent to 102.2 billion patacas in the first quarter.

China’s economy expanded 7.4 percent in the first three months of this year, the slowest since 2012.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vinicy Chan in Hong Kong at vchan91@bloomberg.net

[greengiraffe]

I think Genting HK is the holder of the remaining stake in Echo...

Genting still a player in casino war
Michael Smith
1383 words
26 Jun 2014
The Australian Financial Review
AFNR
English
Copyright 2014. Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited.
Chanticleer

Malaysian billionaire KT Lim slipped quietly into Sydney this week to meet with the state's gaming regulator. The timing was significant. It is exactly two years since Lim's Genting Group lodged an application to increase its stake in Echo Entertainment beyond 10 per cent.

This is an extraordinarily long time, even in the tightly regulated gaming world. James Packer had his application to increase his stake in Echo approved in a year, while it took six months for the Nevada Gaming Commission to grant Genting approval for a resort in Las Vegas. Lim is running out of patience and met with the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) on Tuesday to try to get to the ­bottom of the delay.

Genting has long been the wild card in the feud between Echo and James Packer's Crown over control of the Sydney casino market. The Asian gaming group has taken a low profile in the past year though and Echo executives and investors have been bemused about why the gaming regulator has taken so long to consider its application.

Lim's presence in Sydney indicates he is still serious about building a presence in Australia. It also suggests it is not Genting dragging out the approval process by not submitting the required information as some have suggested. Unlike his trip to the country in April last year, the Genting chief executive was not accompanied by his usual entourage. His visit was brief and he flew out on Tuesday night. There were no formal meetings scheduled with Echo.

Genting has enormous gaming interests across Asia and plenty of free cash which would make it an attractive partner for Echo which is seeking to increase the number of Asian VIP gamblers coming to Sydney.

Genting is also a potential acquirer of Echo, either by itself or with a partner. While Packer sold his 10 per cent stake in May last year and has since been given the green light to operate a second casino in Sydney, some investors still see Echo as a potential target.

Some analysts believe Genting no longer has ambitions for Echo because it did not seek to team up with it on Brisbane's Queen's Wharf project. Echo announced this week it had partnered with Hong Kong's Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium to bid for the multibillion-dollar Brisbane casino and entertainment precinct.

But that does not necessarily stop Genting buying Echo, which would be the Brisbane project's operator if it wins the bidding process. The decision by the NSW government to give Packer the go ahead to operate a second casino in Sydney has enhanced, rather than reduced, Genting's interest in Australia

Crown Resorts competes with Genting in Asia and Packer's ability to capitalise on the flow of VIP gamers between Australia and Asia is something Lim cannot do at the moment. Genting owns casinos in Malaysia, Singapore, the United States and Britain and has interests in mining and agriculture assets. Lim has presented the company as potentially a significant investor in New South Wales' tourism infrastructure at a time when mining investment is slowing.

This looks doubtful if Genting runs out of patience and walks away. The regulatory approval process is normal as NSW gaming rules mean any single shareholder must seek permission from the regulator to increase its stake beyond 10 per cent. But the time it is taking to reach a conclusion is ­raising eyebrows.

The ILGA says it continues to work with Genting about its application and the matter remains under consideration.

[greengiraffe]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/...m-20140815

PUBLISHED AUGUST 15, 2014
Genting S'pore Q2 profit falls 27% to S$102m
Net exchange loss on investments; revenue higher; H1 profit up 29%
BYANITA GABRIEL
anitag@sph.com.sg @AnitaGabrielBT

THE winning streak for casino operator Genting Singapore was predictably volatile as shown by its just released second-quarter results which saw net profit attributable to shareholders slip 27 per cent to S$102.29 million from S$140.24 million a year ago.
This was after it had apportioned some S$30 million, as was the case a year ago, to holders of perpetual capital securities.
The period registered a net exchange loss of S$34.9 million relating to investments, against a net exchange gain of S$25.2 million a year ago.
Revenue for the group, which runs the Resorts World Sentosa integrated resort, rose 6 per cent to S$751 million from S$708 million.

[greengiraffe]

http://infopub.sgx.com/Apps?A=COW_CorpAn...cation.pdf

[greengiraffe]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102020096

Have Singapore’s casinos lost their mojo?
Leslie Shaffer | Writer for CNBC.com
20 Mins Ago
CNBC.com


Munshi Ahmed | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Singapore's casinos opened their doors in 2010 with great expectations for the market's potential growth, but some analysts believe the party may be over.

"The stage is set for disappointment. We think the Singapore gaming market cannot grow," Macquarie said in a note last week, noting that the city-state's gross gaming revenue (GGR) has stalled at around $6 billion a year since 2011, the first full year of operations for the two casinos.

Read More Singapore puts new spin to mocked anti-gambling ad
Singapore's integrated resorts, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, which house the casinos as well as other facilities such as convention space and a theme park, can steer the fate of the city-state's economy. The GGR revenue came in at around 1.6 percent of the city-state's 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) of around $372.8 billion.


"After three big years, tourist arrivals in Singapore have started to decline (down 3 percent year-to-July) and most importantly, Chinese visitors who form more than 50 percent of Singapore VIP volume have fallen by 29 percent year-to-date," Macquarie said. VIP volumes make up around 80 percent of the city-state's total gaming volume, it said.
Read More And the next driver for Japan stocks is…
"A strong Singapore dollar and new casinos in Asia are eating into the Singapore gaming pie further," it said, noting that many Asian countries opened casinos on a similar model, spurred by the city-state's success.

"While the Philippines has already seen four new private casinos since then, other countries like Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Japan are gearing up to push new casino legislations and open new casinos by 2020," Macquarie said. "There is a high probability of Singapore casinos' VIP clientele cannibalization by new casinos in Asia."

Others also believe the casinos' glory days may be behind them.

Read More Time to cash in your bets on Macau?
"Gaming revenues in Singapore have already plateaued," said Carey Wong, an analyst at OCBC. "Singapore has a very small captive market. The government has been [clear] from the start that they don't want locals spending way too much time there."


Singapore has actively tried to minimize the impact of gambling on its population of around 5.6 million, using measures such as steep entry fees for residents as well as allowing locals to put family members on a list of people barred from entering.

Read More Take the gamble on these gaming stocks: Pimco's Kiesel
But Wong expects that the drop in overseas visitors may be temporary, noting that it's partly due to China's economic slowdown and corruption crackdown.

"Once things die down, we'll see the return of these high rollers," he said. "From an Asian perspective, Asians will gamble regardless of good times or bad. It's different from a Western perspective, where gaming is more for leisure."

Read More US casino billionaires place bets in Japan
It's not clear how many share Wong's confidence of a rebound.

In a note last week, CIMB said that in a recent marketing trip to Europe, investors showed little interest.

"There did not seem to be any interest in Singapore-listed transport or gaming plays," it said, noting that Genting Singapore and Genting Hong Kong are among its least-preferred stocks on the Singapore market.

—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1

[Boon]

Genting Singapore Shorts at Highest in Year on Earnings

By Jonathan Burgos Oct 1, 2014

Short-sellers are betting Genting Singapore Plc (GENS), the worst-performing stock on the city’s benchmark equity index this year, has further to fall amid plunging earnings at Southeast Asia’s biggest casino operator.

Bearish bets on the stock climbed to the highest level in a year as Genting tumbled 13 percent since it announced in August that second-quarter profit dropped 27 percent. Brokers from Mizuho Securities Co. to Macquarie Group Ltd. have cut their ratings on the company.

“Given the way earnings are being downgraded, it may be too early to buy the stock,” Alan Richardson, whose Samsung Asean Equity Fund outperformed 96 percent of peers tracked by Bloomberg during the past five years, said by phone from Hong Kong. “Genting is still trading at a premium over the Singapore stock market. Even if the shares fell another 20 percent, it will still be more or less trading at the market’s multiple.”

While most analysts recommend buying or holding Genting, the shares yesterday traded at S$1.14, a 19 percent discount to the consensus price target. The stock is the sixth most-shorted on the benchmark Straits Times Index, according to Markit Group Ltd. data compiled by Bloomberg. Short interest climbed to 2.2 percent of freely-tradeable shares at the end of last week, the highest ratio since July 2013, the data show..................................

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-30...eaken.html

(not vested)

[butcher]

Also partly hit by clampdown in Mainland China on funds flowing overseas

[greengiraffe]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/governme...nd-quarter

China visitor arrivals almost halved in second quarter
But some economists believe the slide has bottomed; overall visitor number for the quarter slips 6% to 2.6m

By
Nisha Ramchandaninishar@sph.com.sg@Nisha_BT
Chinatourists161014.jpg SINGAPORE'S second-quarter tourism was again hammered by the severe drop in China visitors. The retreat however appears to be easing, prompting some economists to say that the decline may have bottomed - PHOTO: ST
16 Oct5:50 AM
Singapore

SINGAPORE'S second-quarter tourism was again hammered by the severe drop in China visitors. The retreat however appears to be easing, prompting some economists to say that the decline may have bottomed.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Chinese arrivals dived a worrying 47 per cent in the quarter. But there was some consolation in their average spend, which helped total China receipts fall by a less sharp 24 per cent.

Overall, the number of visitors dropped 6 per cent year on year to 3.6 million in the second quarter. Receipts dipped 3 per cent to S$5.6 billion. The decline in tourism receipts was mainly due to lower shopping expenditure, particularly from China, Indonesia and Malaysia, which was down 19 per cent, possibly due to the strong Singapore dollar.

This was offset by the growth in sightseeing, entertainment & gaming expenditure, where spending was up 12 per cent in line with higher gaming revenues at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.

In addition to China, visitor spend was also down for Indonesia (-7 per cent), Malaysia (-12 per cent) and the Philippines (-12 per cent) while Hong Kong bucked the trend to post a 30 per cent growth on the back of higher business travel and MICE traffic.

CIMB economist Song Seng Wun said signs were pointing to a possible recovery in 2H14, with 2Q likely to be the trough. "Going forward, we are seeing some tentative signs of the decline in visitor arrivals levelling off," he said, pointing to markets such as China and India.

Preliminary month on month data from STB seems to support this view. For July, visitors from China nearly doubled month on month. While arrivals from China were still down 27 per cent year on year in July, the decline eased from the steeper drops of 52 per cent and 45 per cent in May and June respectively.

For the first six months, total tourism receipts were up two per cent to S$11.8 billion, even as visitor arrivals declined three per cent to 7.5 million. "The disappearance of flight MH370, abduction of Chinese visitors in Sabah and political unrest in Thailand have all had a dampening effect on Chinese travel to the region," said STB.

It added that new tourism laws in China, implemented in October last year, which clamp down on "zero-dollar tours" that come with surprise fees have also contributed to weaker tourist arrivals from China.

Stripping out China, visitor arrivals from all other markets were up 2 per cent in the first six months. The number of travellers from China were down 30 per cent to 871,000 in 1H14, while Indonesian visitors - Singapore's top source market - edged up three per cent to 1.525 million. Arrivals from Hong Kong and South Korea were also both 16 per cent higher.

Last year, Singapore received S$23.5 billion in tourism receipts from 15.6 million visitors. STB earlier forecast visitor arrivals to clock 16.3-16.8 million this year, and tourism receipts to hit S$23.8-S$24.6 billion. However, it remains to be seen if those targets will now be met.

CIMB's Mr Song expects a slight growth in 4Q arrivals, which would result in flat growth or up to a one per cent slide for the total this year.

Total tourism receipts for the year are likely to be flat as well, even with 4Q14 receipts expected to grow by five per cent due to favourable base effects, which suggests hitting STB's target is unlikely, reckons Mr Song.

Meanwhile, gazetted hotel room revenue rose 5.2 per cent to about S$0.8 billion in Q214 and 9.1 per cent to S$1.6 billion for 1H14.

In 2Q14, average room rate (ARR) across the hotel industry dipped 0.2 per cent to S$255, while average occupancy rate (AOR) was down 2.1 percentage points to 84 per cent and revenue per available room (RevPAR) was 2.6 per cent lower at S$213. Of the various hotel categories, luxury hotels saw the highest growth in RevPAR.

And for the six months, ARR edged up 1.2 per cent to S$258, while AOR slipped 1.3 percentage points to 85 per cent. RevPar came to S$218, down marginally by 0.4 per cent.