Philippines real estate firm Belle Corporation has reported a 96% year-on-year decline in net income to Php93 million (US$1.9 million) for the nine months to 30 September 2020, impacted by a loss in gaming revenues as a result of the temporary closure of City of Dreams Manila due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Belle Corp, owner of the land and buildings that comprise City of Dreams Manila – which it leases to Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) – earns a share of revenues from the integrated resort via its 78.7%-owned subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp (PLC).
For the first nine months of the year, consolidated revenues fell 50% to Php2.91 billion (US$59.9 million), with the company’s share in gaming revenues down 86% to just Php325 million (US$6.7 million) due to the suspension of operations at CoD.
Revenue from real estate remained strong, down 10% to Php2.37 billion (US$48.8 million) of which Php2.0 billion (US$41.2 million) was derived from its lease agreement with Melco.
However, there were also weak results at Pacific Online Systems Corporation, Belle Corp’s lotteries arm, which leases online betting equipment to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Pacific Online, which is 50.1%-owned by PLC, posted a 71% year-on-year decrease in revenues to Php221 million (US$4.5 million).
As previously reported by IAG, Manila’s casinos were ordered to close in mid-March as the COVID-19 pandemic hit but were last month granted permission to reopen at 30% capacity and with strict social distancing measures in place.
