Casino op Donaco fiscal year 1Q EBITDA down sequentially
Donaco International Ltd, an operator of a border casino in Cambodia and a border casino in Vietnam, says it had a “stable” revenue performance during the three months to September 30, the first-quarter of the firm’s financial year.
The firm told the Australian Securities Exchange in a Friday filing that for the three months to September 30, it recorded net revenue of just under AUD10.3 million (US$6.8 million), compared to AUD10.8 million in the prior quarter. Revenue was up from AUD9.1 million a year earlier.
Group-wide earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at AUD5.6 million in the reporting period, down 12.5 percent sequentially, but up 10.1 percent from a year ago.
The group said its net cash position was AUD33.0 million as of September 30.
At the group’s main operation, DNA Star Vegas resort (pictured in a file photo) at Poipet, on Cambodia’s border with Thailand, property EBITDA slipped 17.6 percent sequentially, and was down 15.5 percent year-on-year, to AUD3.8 million.
DNA Star Vegas reported net revenue of AUD6.3 million in the financial-year first quarter, versus just above AUD6.8 million in the June quarter. The property’s net revenue stood at AUD6.7 million in the comparable period a year earlier.
Donaco’s non-executive chairman, Porntat Amatavivadhana, was cited as saying in the Friday update: “At Star Vegas, we were expecting a higher September quarter for the asset, which was impacted by the registration fees from new slot machines, equivalent to AUD0.37 million.”
Donaco also runs the Aristo International Hotel at Lao Cai, in Vietnam, near that country’s border with China.
Aristo’s financial first quarter revenue was almost flat quarter-quarter, at nearly AUD4.0 million. Revenue rose by 59.3 percent year-on-year.
Property level EBITDA was up slightly sequentially, at AUD2.52 million – more than double from the prior-year period.
The chairman reiterated a point he made in an August announcement, that Donaco was working to “navigate Southeast Asia’s evolving gaming industry”.
That included the possible legalisation of casino resorts in Thailand, and an “Aristo tax matter,” a topic it had aired in a July update.
Regarding the latter, Donaco said that during the current month, the group had been granted leave to initiate legal proceedings “to challenge the basis and validity” of a decision of Vietnam’s General Department of Taxation (GDT).
Donaco stated it would give information on the outcome of the legal proceedings “in due course”.
Though the group reiterated: “The potential liability of approximately AUD8,857,906 (as at 30 June 2024 spot rate) could potentially impact Donaco’s financials if GDT’s decision is not overturned.”
