Crown Resorts net profit falls in half-year report

n Resorts saw its net profit after tax fall 24% year-on-year to A$200.7m for the six months ended 31 December 2015.

Increases were reported for operating revenue and EBITDA however, with operating revenue improving by 10% to A$1.87bn and EBITDA going up 13% to A$455.9m.

The operator said the performance of Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE), which includes its Macau hotel/casino properties and City of Dreams Manila in the Philippines, was impacted by “weak market conditions in Macau”.

Crown’s share of MCE’s normalised net profit after tax was A$37.2m, representing a drop of 66%.

The figures were broken down into normalised and actual results, with the normalised results excluding the impact of a theoretical win rate on VIP programme play at Crown Melbourne, Crown Perth, Crown Aspinall’s and MCE, pre-opening costs from MCE and asset impairments in the prior year.

The normalised numbers actually produced similar numbers, with net profit after tax sliding 36% to A$206m, EBITDA slipping 6% to A$424.4m and operating revenue rising 8% to A$1.85bn.

Crown CEO Rowen Craigie said: “Main floor gaming revenue at our Australian resorts increased by 9.8%, which was a solid performance. VIP programme play turnover in Australia of A$35.7bn (down 3.8%) was a reasonable outcome given the strong growth in the prior comparable period of 61.4% and the depressed nature of the VIP programme play market across Asia.”