Bloomberry’s income climbed 26% to P3.3b in first quarter

Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. saw its net income increase by 26 percent in the first quarter of the year to P3.3 billion from P2.6 billion in the same period last year boosted by one-time, non-cash gain of P2.9 billion from the refinancing of a P40 billion loan facility.

Minus this P2.9 billion extraordinary gain in first quarter net income would have been P445.8 million, down 83 percent year-over-year, the company reported Wednesday in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) reached P16.8 billion, a 14 percent increase from P14.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024 mainly due to gaming revenues from newly opened Solaire Resort North (SN) and resilient domestic mass market player base.

Solaire North generated gaming revenues of P4.6 billion on continued ramp up across the VIP, mass tables and electronic gaming machines (EGMs) segments, bolstered by a robust domestic market.

VIP segment booked gaming revenues of P472.2 million while mass table and EGMs added P2 billion and P2.2 billion, respectively.

Non-gaming revenue was P913.7 million.

However, Solaire Entertainment City in Paranaque registered an 18 percent decline in gaming revenues softness in gaming volumes arising from slow VIP and the POGO ban.

Gaming revenues from VIP segment declined 34 percent to P2.8 billion while EGMs dropped 25 percent to P5.9 billion. Gaming revenues from mass table segment however climbed 7 percent to P4.9 billion.

“We are fully committed to pushing the performance of both of our resort businesses and Solaire Online even as we are focused on ramping our new online product which will be launching in the coming weeks,” Bloomberry chairman and chief executive Enrique Razon Jr. said.

Bloomberry earlier said it will launch a new electronic gaming product by the second quarter of 2025 to help recover revenues lost after the ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) last year.

In February, the company secured P40-billion syndicated refinancing facility from seven local banks to ease its debt service requirements.

The syndicate of lenders includes BDO Unibank Inc., Bank of Commerce, Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank and Union Bank of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Bloomberry’s Jeju Sun in Korea had minimal impact, posting GGR of only P3.7 million.