Update | Galaxy beats profit estimates as Macau shifts from just high-rollers
Lui Che-woo’s gambling giant delivers 13 per cent rise in half-year earnings to HK$4.7 billion, on revenue of HK$25.5 billion
“Macau’s gaming sector has hit the rock bottom and a rebound is already on the horizon,”the 87-year-old told reporters in Hong Kong on Thursday.
And the gaming giant’s upcoming Galaxy Macau Phase Three and Four projects might feature more technology-related elements to bolster the appetite of visitors, revealed his eldest son, deputy chairman Francis Lui Yiu-tung.
The Hong Kong-listed operator of the Galaxy Macau casino resort saw its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation jump 13 per cent to HK$4.7 billion, beating analyst consensus estimates of HK$4.5 billion in a poll by the Post.
Total revenue in the first six months was HK$25.5 billion, marginally up on HK$25.4 billion in the same period in 2015.
The upbeat earnings of the mass-market-focused gaming giant came after the government of the former Portuguese colony urged the city’s casinos to map out more non-gaming attractions as China’s big-spending VIP patronage shunned Macau following a graft crackdown by Beijing.
“The first half of 2016 was encouraging for Macau and we continued to see gradual signs of stabilisation, as it diversifies, and the shift towards mass segment continues,” the company said in a statement.