Each day it was open for business during the period, RWS's cash registers received about $9.6 million in daily sales, from which Genting pocketed a tidy $5.6 million in pre-tax profits. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
DOUBTS about whether Genting Singapore had hit the jackpot with Singapore's first integrated resort were firmly trounced on Thursday.
The Asian gaming giant revealed that Resorts World Singapore (RWS), which runs its casino at Sentosa, had powered ahead to generate a sparkling $860.8 million in revenue and pre-tax earnings of $503.5 million for the second quarter of this year.
Each day it was open for business during the period, RWS's cash registers received about $9.6 million in daily sales, from which Genting pocketed a tidy $5.6 million in pre-tax profits.
In the first quarter of 2010 - when the IR was still fresh from its first-phase January opening and the economic recovery was still in its early stages - RWS pre-tax profits stood at just $108.9 million. And a year before that, while IR was still being built, Genting was sitting on a net loss of $11.6 million.
The dazzling figures from RWS helped lift Genting from a $51 million loss a year ago, to $396 million in earnings for the three months ended June 30. Revenue was a staggering $979 million - up from just $120 million last year - while pre-tax profits, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), hit $514 million - up massively from $4 million for the same period in 2009.
Economists in Singapore generally agree that it is difficult to isolate the value of gaming to the national as it acts more as a catalyst for tourism activity. But IRs were introduced in Singapore to help beef up tourism in the city-state. Despite visitor arrivals in Singapore have hitting monthly record highs since the start of the year - breaching the 1 million a month mark for the first time in July - the strong showing of RWS and Genting still surprised some analysts.
