Solaire North delays opening to late 2022/2023

Friday 19th of June 2020

Enrique Razon, businessman and owner of casino operator Bloomberry Resorts, answers a question duri

Bloomberry Resorts said it expects its second IR in the Philippines to now open in late 2022, or early 2023, due to construction delays following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bloomberry Chairman Enrique K. Razon told shareholders at the annual general meeting that the crisis had caused a two-month delay to construction.

“Construction has partially restarted and the period of lockdown can be reasonably added to the completion date,” he was cited as saying by local media.

Bloomberry operates the Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila’s Entertainment City and the second location will be on 1.5 hectares in Vertis North. The resort is aiming to cater for the local mass market in the Bulacan and Pampanga provinces.

Bloomberry reported that Q1 net income fell 38 percent due to the impact of the coronavirus and it expects a slow recovery.

Profit in the period was PHP1.4 billion ($27.7 million), while consolidated net revenue fell 13 percent to PHP9.4 billion year-over-year. Gross gambling revenue at Solaire was down 10 percent to PHP12.2 billion. GGR was down 16 percent from the prior quarter.

“The record performance of the company in 2019 will no longer reflect our short term future performance,” Razon told investors. “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.”

“But even during this crisis, we are still on the lookout for opportunities whose potential and valuation makes sense in this environment,” he added.