Bloomberry income surges to P9.5B
GAMING resort operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. on Monday reported a net income of P9.5 billion for 2023, up 85 percent from P5.1 billion the previous year, on the back of strong gaming revenues amid a robust domestic market.
The operator of Solaire Resort Entertainment City (Solaire) in Parañaque and Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino (Jeju Sun) in South Korea said consolidated net revenues jumped 24 percent to P48.4 billion from P38.9 billion on the
continued recovery of its gaming and non-gaming segments.
The growth was a reflection of a “resilient Philippine economy amid a challenging global economic landscape,” Enrique Razon Jr., Bloomberry chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“Our mass table games, electronic gaming machines (EGM), and non-gaming segments performed remarkably as revenues in these areas breached 2019 prepandemic levels by a significant margin,” he added.
The gaming tycoon said they were optimistic about growth prospects this year, particularly with the target opening of Bloomberry’s second integrated resort in Quezon City in May.
“Solaire Resort North will massively enhance our luxury gaming and entertainment portfolio and solidify our standing as the leading integrated resort developer and operator in the Philippines,” he added.
Bloomberry’s net income in the fourth quarter went up by 11 percent to P1.3 billion from P1.1 billion in the same period last year, while consolidated net revenues rose 3.0 percent to P11.9 billion.
In the gaming business, Solaire’s total gross gaming revenues (GGR) for 2023 was up 16 percent at P58.3 billion from P50.1 billion previously, almost replicating the pre-pandemic 2019 level.
Bloomberry said growth in the gaming segment was propelled by the domestic-focused mass tables and EGM segments, which had already surpassed prepandemic levels on a combined basis.
In South Korea, it said that Jeju Sun posted a 2023 GGR of P31 million. It added that the profit, in effect, reflects a reversal of the P8.5 million loss incurred in the period covering Oct. 3 to Dec. 31, 2022.
For the non-gaming segment, the company’s consolidated nongaming revenues increased 30 percent to P8.7 billion from P6.7 billion in 2022, hitting 107 percent of their 2019 values.
Bloomberry’s consolidated cash operating expenses widened by 18 percent to P29 billion from P24.6 billion the year before, which Bloomberry attributed to increased gaming taxes, salaries and benefits, and cost of sales.
As of the end of 2023, total equity attributable to equity holders of the parent company stood at P48.4 billion, while the company’s consolidated cash and cash equivalents balance stood at P39.8 billion.
On Monday, Bloomberry shares were down 22 centavos, or 1.9 percent, at P11.38 each amid a 0.46-percent rise in the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.