Hong Kong-listed NagaCorp Ltd has reported a net profit of US$52.7 million for the six months to 30 June 2022, reversing a US$77.2 million loss recorded a year earlier on the back of higher business volumes across all business segments at its Cambodian integrated resort, NagaWorld.
According to information filed overnight, average daily business volumes in the lucrative mass and premium mass segments have recovered to 80.3% and 71.8% of 2019 levels respectively since Cambodia eased COVID-19 restrictions, while all segments also showed sequential growth in 2Q22 when compared with the March 2022 quarter.
As a result, NagaCorp reported US$130.1 million in EBITDA for the first six months of this year, up from US$4.5 million in 1H21.
Highlighting its steady improvement, NagaWorld generated gross gaming revenue of US$237.35 million for the six month period of which US$110.3 million was in Q1 – growing by 15.3% to US$127.1 million in Q2. Likewise, EBITDA grew by 13.2% quarter-on-quarter from US$61.0 million to US$69.1 million, while net profit grew by 39.4% from US$22.0 million in Q1 to US$30.7 million in Q2.
By segment, average daily volume in the mass market – comprising EGM bills-in and table game buy-ins – reached US$18.1 million, premium mass rollings reached US$16.2 million and Referral VIP rollings reached US$5.9 million.
In consideration of the company’s strong rebound, NagaCorp said it was recommending the payment of an interim dividend of US$0.73 per share – representing a payout of 60% of net profit – payable by way of scrip shares.
This, NagaCorp said, would “reward the long-term shareholders of the Company for their continuous support of the Company in particular during this difficult COVID-19 period; conserve cashflow; and improve the trading liquidity in the Company’s shares.”
It added, “Barring unforeseen circumstances, we believe that NagaCorp Ltd is a growth stock in a possibly deepening recessional environment.
“Our customers are very much localized, majority of them mainly from business migration in recent years from neighboring countries plus a small group of leisure travellers during the period when the respective international markets allowed travels plus a growing number of wealthy locals in search of escapism because of the favorable political, economic, and social environment in a nation which is slowly getting richer.”
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