Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp said in a Wednesday announcement it was establishing an “annual dividend policy”. The decision was made on Tuesday, following a board meeting.
When the policy will be put into action is yet to be decided, according to a Wednesday statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Bloomberry is the operator of the Solaire Resort & Casino complex in Manila’s Entertainment City and another gaming resort in Quezon City, northeast of the Philippine capital.
The firm said it “aims to make annual distributions of cash dividends of 35 percent of its prior year’s audited consolidated earnings per share”.
In March, Bloomberry reported annual net income of just above PHP9.52 billion (US$167.0 million currently) for full-year 2023.
The freshly announced annual dividend policy is subject to certain conditions. They include: the dividends should be from unrestricted retained earnings; the amount and timing of such dividends would be at the board’s discretion, based on recommendation by management; and provided such payments were contractually permitted under the terms of any existing or future debt facilities obtained by the group.
The Wednesday statement added, referring to the May launch of the Quezon City property: “As the business of the company has grown with the opening of Solaire Resort North, Bloomberry’s board of directors approved this [dividend] policy to further enhance shareholder value”.
The announcement noted: “The company anticipates that Solaire Resort North will augment cash flows generated by the group as it ramps up in the coming quarters.”
“The first dividend under this policy will be declared once management and the board of directors are satisfied with the company’s overall performance and cash flows,” subject to the conditions mentioned, added the firm.
The net income attributable to the owners of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, which runs the Newport World Resorts casino and leisure complex in the Philippine capital Manila, reached PHP423 million in the second quarter. The figure represented a “38-fold quarter-on-quarter increase,” said the parent, Alliance Global Group Inc, in a Wednesday announcement.
Travellers International “recorded a significant improvement in overall performance in the second quarter of 2024”, according to a press release lodged with the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Gross revenues at Travellers International increased by 17 percent quarter-on-quarter to PHP10.9 billion for the three months to June 30, according to the announcement.
Such increase was “largely due to the sharp 20 percent quarter-on-quarter expansion in gross gaming revenues,” stated the parent.
Travellers International’s non-gaming segment – mainly from its hotels and its retail operations – “sustained a revenue growth of 8 percent quarter-on-quarter, on higher average hotel occupancy of 84 percent” in the April to June period.
The update said the Newport World Resorts complex “broke a new record in average daily footfall, hitting 44,000 visitors” in the second quarter.
Newport World Resorts currently has five international hotel brands: Marriott Manila Hotel, Sheraton Manila Hotel, Hilton Manila, Hotel Okura Manila, and Holiday Inn Express Manila. It offers a total of 2,742 guest rooms.
In June, Alliance Global confirmed a leadership change at Newport World Resorts, attributing it to the conclusion of a “year-long transition plan”.
In the first half of 2024, net income attributable to owners of Travellers International stood at PHP434 million, on gross revenues of PHP20.1 billion, according to Wednesday’s filing.
Alliance Global said in July that Travellers International would use PHP10 billion this year “for its ongoing expansion projects, mainly within its Newport World Resorts complex”.
