Belle Corp. income dips 31% in Q1 on fall in tourist arrivals

Belle Corp. said its net income for the first three months of the year fell 31 percent to P577 million, from last year’s P835 million, mainly as a result of the decline in the number of tourists visiting its properties and assets.

The company said revenues fell 25 percent to P1.42 billion from the previous year’s P1.89 billion in the first quarter when Taal Volcano erupted and the Covid-19 pandemic reached the Philippines.

“The effects of the pandemic began with declining tourist arrivals

prior to the implementation of the enhanced community quarantines nationwide and was compounded by the temporary suspension of gaming operations at City of Dreams Manila on March 16 in compliance with government initiatives to contain the virus,” the company said.

Belle’s primary growth driver, its share in the gaming revenues at City of Dreams Manila, reached P445 million in the first quarter, 39 percent lower than last year’s P725 million.

City of Dreams Manila, the integrated resort and casino in Entertainment City in Parañaque, is using the quarantine period to prioritize the health of its employees, to establish protocols that ensure a safe working and recreational environment and to support the government in keeping people safe and restarting the economy, the company said.

Belle’s real-estate operations also recorded an 8-percent drop in revenues to P754 million, from P822 million last year.

Of real-estate revenues, P668 million came from Belle’s lease of the land and buildings comprising

City of Dreams Manila to Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., which was essentially unchanged from 2019. Melco is the operator of COD Manila.

Belle’s real-estate sales and property management activities at its Tagaytay Highlands complex, which were affected by the Taal Volcano eruption in January, contributed P86 million for the period, 44 percent lower than the previous year's level.

Despite the challenging business environment, and in keeping with its efforts to consistently declare regular annual dividends, Belle said it fulfilled the payment of its regular cash dividend to its common shareholders in 2020 in the amount of 12 centavos per share, or approximately P1.2 billion in total. This was at par with its previous regular cash dividend paid in 2019.