The increase in gaming revenue to HK$271m ($34.9m), follows the acquisition of Trans World Corporation (TWC), a European casino operator.

Hong Kong property development and hotel management operator FEC, purchased TWC in the spring of 2018 for $42m and this is the first full-year for TWC under new ownership. The group said, “TWC’s gaming operations continued to perform well with the synergies created between the Group and TWC following the acquisition since April 2018, including, for instance, cross-selling opportunities, improvement of gaming machines and introduction of new table games.” 

Overall, the group stated the financial year was “relatively stable”. TWC, operating three casinos in Austria, brought in HK$222.7m.

HK$48.6 million came from FEC’s stake in Australia’s Star Entertainment Group.

The group’s recurring income business dropped by 14% year-on-year, bringing in HK$2.6bn, while hotel revenue fell by 26%, mostly due to global travel restrictions. 

Chris Hoong, managing director of FEC, said: “Despite the highly challenging environment in FY2020, FEC achieved record-breaking revenues of over HK$7.5 billion, representing an increase of 8.9% year-on-year.”

While the group did experience the struggle the global lockdown caused, FEC took various measures and cost-control initiatives to manage the situation. Hoong added he believes the “geographical and sector diversification” is the group’s strength.