Bloomberry Resorts Corp Chairman and CEO Enrique K Razon Jr says the company’s second Manila integrated resort, Solaire North, is on track for a 2023 launch.
Speaking to investors at the company’s annual meeting on Friday, Razon said the company was well placed to capitalize on regional recovery after two years of suppressed revenues with Solaire North, located on 1.5 hectares of land in Quezon, set to play an important role in fulfilling post-pandemic demand.
“We’re still on track for a 2023 opening,” Razon said, according to local media reports.
“Solaire North will be an upscale mass-focused offering that, together with Solaire and the revamped Solaire Club, will profoundly expand our gaming footprint to take advantage of what we anticipate to be burgeoning post-pandemic domestic mass and regional premium mass demand.”
Bloomberry previously reported a 22% year-on-year increase in GGR to Php27.6 billion (US$529 million) in 2021, with consolidated EBITDA up 265% to Php5.2 billion (US$100 million) and net loss narrowed from Php8.3 billion (US$159 million) in 2020 to Php4.2 billion (US$80 million).
Razon noted that Solaire “operated with limited capacity to one degree or another throughout 2021” but that the recent lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions in the Philippines was a major step forward.
“If this environment continues, and other Asian countries start lifting their own inbound travel restrictions, then we will have a clear runway to ramp up to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.
Razon also pointed to the addition of online gaming operations via PAGCOR’s recently launched PIGO (Philippine Inland Gaming Operations) scheme as another important string to Bloomberry’s bow.
“We are hopeful that in the near future, in the medium term, that [online gaming] will be a large part of the business,” he said.
“So far it has grown strongly and has been delivering substantial revenues monthly from zero a year-and-a-half-ago. We are highly confident in this development and have been focusing on this area.”
