Local junket operator Neptune Group Ltd. posted HK$202.1 million (US$25.2 million) in net loss attributable to owners for the fiscal year ended June 30, narrowing 75.6 per cent from the loss of HK$828 million one year ago.
According to its filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the company’s revenue fell 41.2 per cent year-on-year to HK$278.7 million for the year. The junket operator claimed the decrease in revenue is due to the many measures implemented by the central government in combating the outflow of renminbi.
For the company’s VIP gaming business in the city, its revenues derived from its VIP room at Grand Lisboa plunged 55.2 per cent year-on-year to HK$91.1 million whilst those earned from its operations in The Venetian Macau and Sands Macau also recorded a year-on-year decrease of 19.6 per cent and 33 per cent, amounting to HK$115.1 million and HK$72.5 million, respectively.
For the fiscal year, the junket registered a loss in EBITDA of HK$260.5 million, down 64.6 per cent year-on-year from HK$997.8 million one year ago.
The company said in the filing that the improvement in net loss for the fiscal year was boosted by short-term loan interest income of HK$6.4 million derived from three loan agreements with three non-controlling shareholders for their business use.
Expanding money lending business
Neptune Group said in its filing that the company remains undecided whether a successful rebound or return to profitability in the near future is likely, although it perceives its business has reached the bottom of the downward spiral.
As at the end of June, the company operated 55 VIP gaming tables in the city, with 14 in The Venetian Macao, 10 in Sands Macao, 13 in Galaxy Macau, 8 in Grand Lisboa and 10 in City of Dreams.
On the other hand, the company revealed in the filing that it had applied and received permission by Hong Kong regulators to activate a money lending operation, meaning that the company has commenced making loans. The local junket operator expressed its optimistic outlook about the new arrangement as the market need for this market niche has been verified.
‘We expect to continue and expand this business as a supplement to lost VIP volumes,’ it notes in the filing.
