BELLE Corp., the company that owns the land and buildings where City of Dreams Manila sits, said its net income fell 18 percent during the three quarters of the year to P2.18 billion, from last year’s P2.66 billion, mainly dragged by its unit that leases out equipment to the state-owned lottery operator.
Revenues were down 11 percent to P5.77 billion for the nine-month period ending September from last year’s P6.46 billion.
Belle blamed the fall in income on weaker results of its unit Pacific Online Systems Corp., which leases online betting equipment to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for their lottery and keno operations. Pacific Online, which is 50.1 percent-owned by Belle’s subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp., posted a 51-percent decrease in revenues, to P766 million for the period, from P1.56 billion last year.
“This was due to competition from the small town lottery, and the temporary suspension of lottery and keno operations by the PCSO during the third quarter of 2019. With the suspensions lifted, Pacific Online is working closely with the PCSO and its network of agents to boost the attractiveness of the pari-mutuel games it offers, and is working to implement cost efficiency measures across its operations,” it said.
Belle said its core operations continued to be stable as its real-estate operations posted a 4-percent increase in revenues to P2.63 billion for the period, from P2.52 billion last year.
Of real-estate revenues, P2 billion came from Belle’s lease of the land and buildings comprising City of Dreams Manila to Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., the operator of the casino.
Belle’s real-estate sales and property management activities at its Tagaytay Highlands complex contributed the balance of P624 million during 2019, it said.
Premium Leisure, which holds all the gambling assets of Belle, registered a P2.38-billion share in gaming earnings of City of Dreams Manila for the first nine months of 2019, flat from last year.
Belle’s principal asset is the City of Dreams Manila in Entertainment City in Parañaque, which is being leased on a long-term basis to Melco. In addition to lease income, Belle also has shares in revenues or earnings from City of Dreams Manila’s gaming operations through the operating agreement between its 78.7 percent-owned subsidiary Premium Leisure and Melco
Belle also owns approximately 1 hectare of presently undeveloped land across from the City of Dreams Manila site.