As Macau casinos are showing continuous drop of revenue, Australian and Cambodian casinos don’t seem to have the same problem. The latest casino operator to reveal an impressive growth of net profit is NagaCorp Ltd. The Group reported an increase in profit of 49% ($101 million) for the first six months of 2015. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased as well; the year-on-year EBITDA growth is high 53% and reached $132.8 million.
NagaWorld turnover, when it comes to VIP gambling, for the first half of the year jumped 50% to approximately $3.6 billion. Table buy-ins increased for 11% y-o-y to almost $262 million. Slot machine buy-ins also noted a growth for the first six months of 2015; they reached $629.3 million after witnessing a 10% increase. Gaming tables earned the company revenue higher for 17.4% ($163.4 million), whereas electronic gaming doubled to around $92 million. However, this figure includes the negotiation fee of $40 million paid by a Chinese company in May, 2015; last year this amount was much lower $41.2 million. The declared interim dividend by NagaCorp is $0.0267 per ordinary share and it will be paid on 17th of September.
Cambodia witnessed higher total visitor arrivals for 4.6% y-t-y to 2.3 million people visiting the country in the period between January and June, 2015. Most of the tourists come from Vietnam and they are followed by Chinese and South Korean visitors. The increased number of people travelling to Cambodia is one of the factors for NagaCorp’s excellent net profit growth.
In addition to the impressive financial report, NagaCorp revealed that the NagaCity Walk shopping complex is being delayed for half a year. The physical completion of the mall was scheduled for the third quarter of 2015, while operations were supposed to commence by the first quarter of 2016.