Imperial Pacific expects to out of the red

Casino investor Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd expects the company’s annual profit for the full year of 2016 to turn around from a net loss a year earlier, driven by its gaming business on the island of Saipan, in the Northern Mariana islands.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last Friday, the company said ‘a substantial increase in profit’ is anticipated for the year, as compared to a loss of HK$84.4 million (US$10.5 million) recorded for 2015.
At the moment, the gaming operator is only operating a “temporary casino” on the island, launched in November 2015.
‘The expected turnaround from loss to profit is mainly attributable to the operating profits generated by the Temporary Casino, “Best Sunshine Live,”’ the company wrote.
According to the company’s previous filing, it raked in a total of US$32.4 billion (HK$251.2 billion) in VIP table games rolling for the year.
At the beginning of the year, the company said its integrated resort on the island, Imperial Pacific Resort, would commence its soft opening within this quarter.
While the soft opening date has not yet been officially announced, last month Saipan media outlet Marianas Variety quoted the company’s vice president for operations Donnie Browne as saying that the soft opening date would be on March 31.