Genting Bhd's Q2 earnings down 20.6% to RM534.5mil (3182)

KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Bhd's
earnings fell 20.6% to RM534.55mil in the second quarter ended June 30,
2012 from RM673.22mil a year ago, impacted by a decline in casino
business and weaker plantations performance.
It said on
Wednesday its revenue increased 1.1%to RM4.512bil compared with
RM4.462bil while earnings per share were 14.47 sen compared with 18.17
sen. It declared an interim dividend of 3.5 sen a share.
Elaborating
on the divisions, the Genting group said higher revenue was recorded
from the leisure and hospitality and property divisions. However, group
profit before tax fell 10% to RM1.391bil compared with RM1.548bil a
year ago.
"Revenue from Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) was affected
by the marginally lower casino business when compared with Q2, FY11.
Consequently, the adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation
and amortisation (EBITDA) of RWS was lower than Q2, FY11," it said.
As
for the leisure and hospitality business at Resorts World Genting in
Malaysia (RWG), it performed better due mainly to the overall higher
volume of business and higher hold percentage in the premium players
business. This contributed to the higher EBITDA of RWG in Q2, FY12.
Genting
said revenue from the UK operations increased, benefiting from overall
higher volume of business and higher hold percentage of its London
casino operations.
"Revenue and EBITDA from the leisure and
hospitality business in the US in 2QFY12 were mainly from the
operations of Resorts World Casino New York City (RWNYC), which marked
its debut on Oct 28, 2011," it said.
The power division recorded
a decline in revenue, attributed to lower generation by the Meizhou Wan
and Kuala Langat power plants.
Its plantation division owned by Genting Plantations Bhd
recorded lower revenue due to lower palm product selling prices and
lower fresh fruit bunches production as well as lower EBITDA due to the
foregoing and rising input costs.
For the first half, its
earnings declined 17.9% to RM1.228bil from RM1.497bil in the previous
corresponding period. Its revenue declined 4.4% to RM8.933bil from
RM9.352bil.