Operator News
Malaysia – Maybank predicts 70 per cent fall in EBIDTA for Genting Bhd
By Phil - 13 October 2020
Maybank IR Research analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang believes that the fall off in visitation to Resorts World Sentosa and Resorts World Genting could hit Genting Bhd’s EBIDTA by up to 70 per cent in 2020.
The Singapore and Malaysia properties generate between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of Genting Bhd group earnings and with both highly dependent on tourism the short term view is bleak.
The drop is predicted mainly due to lower Resorts World Sentosa and Resorts World Genting visitor arrivals owing to the Covid-19 outbreak. researcher Samuel Yin Shao Yang said.
Looking to the future, he added: “We forecast financial-year 2022 EBITDA to grow by a more gradual 38 per cent year-on-year, as Resorts World Genting’s outdoor theme park opens and ramps up.”
His hope is that Resorts World Sentosa manages to tap back into locals market as it has previously in the past but he said: “The 50 per cent hike in casino entry levies for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents from April 4 2019 eroded its gambler base.”
Mr Yin said: “The main risk to Genting Bhd’s profitability, and [its] environmental, social and governance credentials, continues to be the recurrence of related-party transactions by Genting Malaysia, with the latest being the acquisition of 49 per cent of loss-generating Empire Resorts and increasingly stricter regulations being imposed on Resorts World Sentosa. We forecast Empire Resorts to contribute more than MYR100m (US$24.2m) in losses per annum.”
We are unsure if Resorts World Las Vegas will be profitable going forward,” Mr Yin added.
“We note that Genting Bhd has been more progressive with dividends despite the downtrend in earnings per share since financial-year 2018. Curiously, Genting Bhd is effectively raising its dividend payout ratio while building the US$4.3bn Resorts World Las Vegas.”
