Macau casinos' shares fall on lower Lunar New Year revenue
HSBC says gaming income misses target despite 20pc rise in mainland tourists during new year
Macau casino shares dropped steeply on Tuesday in response to a report from HSBC Global Research that gaming revenues failed to reach its projections for the first 17 days of this month.
Shares in SJM led the retreat, falling 5.3 per cent to close at HK$19.32, followed by Galaxy Entertainment, which ended the day down 4.9 per cent at HK$33.15.
The period monitored in the HSBC report was the Lunar New Year, which fell this month. The holiday season on the mainland was between February 8 and 15, followed immediately by a weekend - all of which might have been expected to result in increased mainland visitors and higher gaming revenues.
But Macau's gaming revenue for the period reached 15.2 billion patacas - below HSBC's estimates - noted Sean Monaghan, a Singapore-based analyst, in a research note.
Separately, Aaron Fischer, the head of consumer and gaming research at CLSA, said while mainland tourist arrivals in Macau grew by about 20 per cent year on year during the Lunar New Year, which was surprisingly strong compared with a 5 per cent growth last year, this had not filtered down into revenue growth for the gaming sector.