Australian integrated resort operator Star Entertainment Group says its gross revenue from 1 January 2018 to 23 May 2018 is up 16.4% year-on-year, boosted by a strong 63.7% growth in international VIP turnover.
The trading update, which reveals an impressive rebound from the hit suffered by all Australian operators in 2017 following the arrests of 19 Crown Resorts employees in mainland China in October 2016, formed part of an Investor Day for institutional investors hosted by Star on Monday.
Although the company didn’t provide any actual revenue figures, it said that its international VIP business “continues to show strong growth in 2H FY2018 to date” versus the same period last year with turnover up 63.7% – despite a low win rate of just 1.35%.
Star reported in August an 18.6% decline in normalized international VIP revenue to AU$554.7 million and an 11.1% fall in normalized profit to AU$214.5 million for the year ended 30 June 2017, impacted by the fallout of the Crown Resorts arrests.
In this week’s Investor Presentation, Star said that its domestic revenue was up 2.6% in 2H18 through 23 May, also impacted by bad luck.