Eight months after Philippines IR operator Landing International Development Ltd held a lavish ground-breaking ceremony on the site of its proposed Philippines casino resort in Manila, the company has yet to receive any official word on the project’s status from the government.
The update was provided in Landing’s 2018 financial results release, which saw it fall into loss despite a sharp uptick in revenues at Korea’s Jeju Shinhwa World.
Pointing to the August 2018 pronouncement by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte that he would not allow the Manila development to go ahead – a directive that culminated in Duterte firing the entire board of Landing’s local partner Nayon Pilipino Foundation – Landing said, “The President of the Philippines has expressed his dissatisfaction with the terms of the lease contract entered by Landing Philippines.”
However, “As at the date of this announcement, the company has not received any official decision from the Government of the Philippines regarding this matter.”
Landing added that it would inform shareholders should there be any progress on the stalled project, envisioned as a US$1.5 billion entertainment-inspired resort.
Meanwhile, the company announced a net loss of HK$701.5 million for the 12 months to 31 December 2018, having booked a profit of HK$505.1 million in 2017. The loss was the result of ongoing development and operating costs at Jeju Shinhwa World as well as fair value changes of equity investments and a failure to reverse the absence of trade receivables from the prior year to the value of HK$209 million.
Nevertheless, revenue for the year increased 149.9% to HK$2.1 billion due to the ramp of Landing Casino and the openings of Shinhwa Waterpark, Transformers Autobots Alliance Exhibition and the Somerset Clubhouse during 2018.
Landing Casino booked revenue of HK$1.49 billion from casino operations for the year, up from HK$179.8 million, with segment profit of HK$83 million from a loss of HK$117 million in 2017.
Theme park revenues climbed 286% to HK$270 million.
The company said it expects to launch Jeju Shinhwa World’s new resort hotel, Shinhwa Resort, in the second quarter of 2019, adding another 500 rooms “furnished with modern amenities.” Shinhwa Resort will lift the resort’s total room inventory to 2,000.
