The Crown Resorts Group’ recently released its financial results for the latter half of 2015, showing a considerable decrease in profits, with net earnings nearly cut in half.
For the six-month period ending on December 31, 2015, the group’s after-tax net income experienced a substantial 24% year-over-year reduction, reaching AU$200.7 million.
Despite this decline, there were some encouraging signs. The corporation’s operating income saw a robust 10% increase, reaching AU$1.87 billion, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) rose by 13% to AU$4.559 billion.
The company attributes this earnings contraction to the underwhelming performance of Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE), their collaborative venture in Macau. MCE, which manages hotel and casino establishments in Macau and City of Dreams Manila in the Philippines, has been contending with the difficulties presented by a weakened Macau market.
Crown’s portion of MCE’s adjusted net profit after tax witnessed a sharp 66% decrease, reaching AU$37.2 million.
The financial statement presents both adjusted and statutory outcomes. The adjusted figures omit elements such as theoretical win rate variations in VIP initiatives at Crown Melbourne, Crown Perth, Crown Aspinalls, and Melco Crown Entertainment, pre-launch costs for Melco Crown Entertainment, and asset write-downs from the previous year.
The adjusted data reveals a comparable trend, with net profit after tax down by 36% to AU$206 million, EBITDA down by 6% to AU$4.244 billion, and operating income up by 8% to AU$1.85 billion.
Crown CEO, Rowan Craigie, emphasized the strength of their Australian resorts, remarking, “General gaming revenue in our Australian resorts expanded by a healthy 9.8%. Australian VIP program play turnover of AU$357 million (down 3.8%) was a reasonable result considering the robust 61.4% expansion in the same period last year and the subdued Asian VIP program play market.”