GuocoLeisure feels impact of euro-zone debt crisis as sales fall

Feb. 7 (BusinessDesk) – GuocoLeisure, the Singapore-listed investment group once known as Brierley Investments, posted a decline in first-half sales on a drop in revenue from its UK-based Clermont Leisure casinos and said Europe’s debt crisis is denting sentiment.

Sales fell 5.2 percent to US$189.7 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, the company said in a statement released to the NZX today. Net profit rose 2.2 percent to US$36.6 million, helped by reimbursement of expenses from settlement of a dispute of its Bass Strait oil and gas royalty.

GuocoLeisure’s biggest assets are its Guoman Hotels chain in the UK, which grew out of the Thistle Hotels group originally acquired when the company was Brierley. Other investments include Molokai Properties, which owns farmland ear-marked for developed in Hawaii, Bass Strait in Australia and Tabua Investments, a Fiji-based property developer.

Revenue from its hotels gained 2.3 percent though “volatility in the gaming sector affected overall revenue performance,” the company said. Personnel expenses climbed 8.9 percent to $51.4 million as the company hired more sales and marketing workers for its hotels.

“The continuing uncertainty in Europe, especially with regard to the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro-zone, has adversely affected business sentiment, particularly in the hospitality business in the UK,” the company said. “The group remains cautious about the business outlook for the rest of the year.”

Revenue from Bass Strait jumped 40 percent to US$31 million, as a result of higher prices for oil and gas. GuocoLeisure also received a one-off royalty distribution of US$5.4 million from resolution of its dispute.

GuocoLeisure’s NZX-listed shares last traded at 63 cents and have gained 8.6 percent this year.

(BusinessDesk)

BUDGET 2012:
Parliament Debate Live - Video Of Budget 2011
Keith Ng Interactive Graphic: How the Budget Breaks Down
BUDGET 2012 - FULL COVERAGE: Reports / Analysis - Press Kit - Reaction (from everybody) - Previews (from everybody) - Pre-Budget Announcements

Gordon Campbell: On the Budget’s Spreadsheet Victories

It wasn’t as if expectations were sky high, exactly. Chances are, it was always more likely that we’d be seeing Bigfoot rampage through the Beehive lock-up than catch a glimpse of a credible growth agenda from this government. More >>

Sludge Budget Report - Short The Dollar! MEMO: To international bankers FROM: C.D. Sludge Please short the dollar! It'll be good for both you and us. And you know you want to. Greexit, Eurogeddon... watch out... flight to quality and all that. Follow your instincts. The NZ Debt Management Office has been so surprised at the unprecedentedly low interest rates that it can borrow at that it has already entirely pre-funded the 2013 fiscal deficit - all $8 billion of it! More >>

Pattrick Smellie Comment: Doddling along the best we can hope forCriticising Budgets for lacking vision or imagination is like shooting fish in a barrel, but even so, this year's Budget again feels like a missed opportunity. Perhaps it's the intrusion of real world needs that means the government couldn't make better political use of the $558.8 million it expects to gather in its first partial asset sale. More >>