Crown suffers Macau decline

Crown Resorts, Australia's biggest casino company, reported a slump in half-year profits because of the slowdown in its Macau operations.

Crown today (Thursday) reported a 1.6% lift in net profit to Aus$205 million (€133.9 million/$147.8 million) during the six months to December 31.

However, ‘normalised’ net profit – Crown's preferred measure of performance, and which excludes one-off items and variations in the theoretical win rate against high-rolling gamblers – fell 34.8% to AUS$210.3 million.

Crown's share of reported profits from the Macau casino resorts it owns as part of the Melco Crown Entertainment joint venture – City of Dreams, the recently opened Studio City, and Altira Macau – fell 89% to Aus$9.4 million.

Rowen Craigie, Crown’s chief executive, said: “The 2016 first half results across Crown’s portfolio of businesses were varied.

“Main floor gaming revenue at our Australian resorts increased by 9.8% which was a solid performance.

“The decline in MCE’s result was attributable to weak market conditions in Macau. Overall gross gaming revenue across the Macau market in the half year to 31 December 2015 declined by more than 30%.”

Related article: Packer steps down as Crown chairman