Shutdowns to stem income for Genting Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Analysts are keeping an eye on Genting Malaysia Bhd (Genting Malaysia) after the temporary closure of Resorts World Genting, Resorts World Awana, Resorts World Kijal, and Resorts World Langkawi from January 22 to Feruary 4, 2021 due to the second movement control order (MCO 2.0) enforced in various states.
Separately, the group said Resorts World Birmingham and all other land-based casinos in the United Kingdom were also temporarily closed until further notice in compliance with the UK government’s directives to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“Genting Malaysia’s online business GentingBet.com continues to operate,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
It added that its operations in the United States and Bahamas remain open.
In its attempt to curb the rising cases of Covid-19 in the country, the Malaysian government implemented MCO 2.0 on Selangor, Penang, Johor, Sabah, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya starting January 13.
This was further extended to Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Terengganu and Pahang, the latter being where GENM operations are located.
Following this announcement, Genting Malaysia is again shutting its operations for a two-week period from January 22.
“During the first MCO along with the globacommented lockdown that took place in the second quarter of 2020, the group sank into a massive net loss of RM900 million,” Public Investment Bank Bhd (PublicInvest Research)
“Although this time around where only a two-week shutdown is being announced, we believe there is a risk of this being extended as the number of new Covid-19 cases remain high in Malaysia.
“Hence, 1H21 may continue to be a challenging period for the tourism and hospitality industry.
“However, we expect activities to pick up in 2H once the vaccines are made available to a larger population of the world, which should augur well for international travel.”