Maintaining red alert

Losses for the first half-year for local hospitality and casino operator Macau Legend Development Ltd increased 30.4 per cent year-on-year, reaching HK$228.55 million, according to the group’s filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The increase in loss was attributed to a rise in operating costs and depreciation due to the opening of the group’s most recent property in the MSAR – Legend Palace Casino and Hotel – together with an increase in finance costs, the filing stated.
The company, led by local mogul David Chow Kam Fai, registered a 28.5 per cent yearly increase in revenue during the first six months of this year, reaching HK$855.9 million, with gaming revenues accounting for 65.8 per cent of total revenues.
During the period in question, the group’s gaming revenues saw a 34.3 per cent year-on-year increase, to HK$563.2 million, justified by a HK$110.3 million revenue increase from its Savan Legend Casino in Laos and a HK$137.5 million revenue increase from the Legend Palace Casino and Hotel since its opening in February of this year.
However the revenue increase was offset by a HK$67.1 million decrease in revenue from the group’s mass market tables at Pharaoh’s Palace Casino at The Landmark Macau and Babylon Casino in Macau Fisherman Wharf.
The two properties, together with Legend Palace, are operated by Macau Legend under the casino license of SJM Holdings Ltd.
As of June 30 of this year, the group owned a total of 194 gaming tables in Macau, of which 171 were in operation – 136 for mass market and 35 VIP gaming tables – while 49 mass market tables and 23 VIP tables were in operation in Laos.
In the first half of this year, revenue from VIP tables went down 9.1 per cent year-on-year to HK$80.6 million, while mass market gaming revenue rose by 30.7 per cent year-on-year to reach HK$426.6 million.

Property deals
The company also announced that the re-design of the construction of its planned Legendale Hotel is now in progress, in order to meet the height requirements of the relevant government authorities in Macau.
The future five-star property is part of Macau Legend’s planned third new hotel under the Macau Fisherman Wharf Redevelopment, and is expected to include 500 rooms and an in-house casino.
The filing also stated that the group had received HK$460 million in refundable deposits in aggregate in July and August of this year, related to the non-legally binding letter of intent the group signed on July 5 with a third party for the sale of The Landmark Macau.
A filing for a previous cancelled sale noted that the property was worth HK$5.47 billion as at end-2015, with the purchase deal to include the property’s hotel, dining and conference facilities, casino and car parks.