Respected international financial services firm CGS-CIMB has reportedly predicted that Asian casino operator Genting Malaysia Berhad will likely generate a net profit of approximately $97.93 million for the whole of 2022.

According to a report from GGRAsia, this forecast is some 52.5% lower than an earlier associated projection of about $201.93 million and comes as the Kuala Lumpur-listed casino firm is seemingly struggling to emerge from a coronavirus-induced slump. The source detailed that Genting Malaysia Berhad runs gambling-friendly properties in the United States, Bahamas, Egypt and the United Kingdom while moreover being responsible for Malaysia’s giant Resorts World Genting venue.

Receipts reversal:

CGS-CIMB reportedly used an official filing to additionally decrease its predicted annual revenues forecast for Genting Malaysia Berhad by almost 18% to around $1.94 billion while simultaneously declaring that the firm’s flagship Resorts World Genting enterprise is being ‘somewhat held back by staff shortages.’ This 12,000-acre development was purportedly temporarily shuttered several times over the course of the past two years as Malaysia sought to counter a coronavirus pandemic that has been attributed to the deaths of 35,870 locals.

Property projection:

In their recent filing and CGS-CIMB analysts Sherman Lam Hsien Jin and Foong Choong Chen reportedly also forecast a circa $12.79 million deficit in Genting Malaysia Berhad’s ‘investments and others’ category for 2022 despite earlier predicting that this figure would likely hit a positive of roughly $4.04 million. Regarding the seven-hotel Resorts World Genting venue and the duo purportedly went on to explain that they now expect the development to post annual revenues of something like $1.19 billion, which would be 21.1% below their earlier estimate of around $1.49 billion.

Reportedly read a statement from the CGS-CIMB pair…

“Despite strong demand, Resorts World Genting only operated 5,500 hotel rooms out of a total of 10,500 in mid-May although this was up from 5,200 at the end of March. Resorts World Genting is in the process of hiring more staff and plans to open more rooms over the next six months.”

Tourist troubles:

Further compounding the bad news for Genting Malaysia Berhad and the CGS-CIMB analysts reportedly observed that visitors from mainland China normally account for as much as 7% of the guests at Resorts World Genting. But the duo purportedly asserted that this market has ‘not yet returned’ owing to the fact that this giant country’s ‘borders remain closed’ to all but essential travel as Beijing continues a nationwide ‘zero coronavirus’ strategy.

Inauguration inconvenience:

Finally, the CGS-CIMB filing reportedly noted that Resorts World Genting’s new Genting SkyWorlds outdoor theme park has not fully opened as rapidly as was earlier expected owing to a range of unidentified ‘technical issues’. This $741 million attraction had its soft-launch in February although the analysts purportedly stated that daily ‘ticket sales have gradually improved’ from around 2,600 in March to about 3,000 over the course of the next two months.

The statement from the CGS-CIMB pair reportedly read…

“Online checks show mixed feedback with visitor complaints mostly about the intermittent closure of some rides due to technical issues. While we believe these are teething issues, ticket sales growth may be constrained until the operational kinks are ironed out.”