Bloomberry Resorts Corp, owner and operator of Manila market leader Solaire Resort & Casino, has revealed it doesn’t expect to open its second Philippines IR, Solaire North, until late 2022 or early 2023.
The delay to Bloomberry’s development timeline, which had previously targeted early to mid-2022 for completion of its new Quezon City property, was detailed by Chairman and CEO Enrique Razon Jr during the company’s annual stockholders meeting, held online late last week.
Discussing the development timeline, Razon said, “We are continuing with the construction of Solaire North in Quezon City which, given the delay due to the lockdown, should be completed by the end of 2022 or early 2023.
“Construction has partially restarted and the period of lockdown can be reasonably added to the completion date.”
Bloomberry resumed partial operations at Solaire Resort & Casino to “very limited capacity” following the latest easing of some restrictions in Manila on 15 June but is expecting the impact of COVID-19 on its financials to continue through the remainder of 2020.
The company recently reported a 13% decline in consolidated net revenue to Php9.4 billion (US$186.5 million) and 38% fall in net profit to Php1.4 billion (US$27.8 million) for the three months to 31 March 2020.
“Solaire just opened to very limited capacity and it is still too early to give any indication on how the business will perform,” Razon said. “Our number one priority right now is to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests and employees.
“The record performance of the company in 2019 will no longer reflect our short-term future performance, until the pandemic is over, in one way or another, whether it runs its course or a vaccine is created in mass quantities. When this may happen is simply a wild guess at this point.”
However, Razon added that Bloomberry was “still on the lookout for opportunities whose potential and valuation makes sense in this environment,” and suggested the delay in Solaire North’s opening could prove beneficial.
“We strongly believe that the timing of Solaire North could well-coincide with a full economic recovery,” he said.
