
Genting Singapore feared to suffer from weak ASEAN currencies
It could dampen patronage or spending per head.
According to UOB KayHian, neighbouring countries’ weak local currencies is a near-term challenge for Genting. The
company acknowledged that the weak ASEAN currencies against the Singapore dollar could be a temporary setback to GENS as it could dampen patronage or spending/head.
"In particular, it noted the Malaysian ringgit’s exceptional weakness which may dampen visitation from Johorians which made up a significant portion of mass market visitors. That said, we understand that hotel visitations from countries which suffered from weak currencies have not significantly dropped, and there's encouraging spillover from the well occupied (90%) Jurong budget hotel, with the majority of the hotel guests using the free shuttle bus service to RWS," UOB KayHian said.
Here's more from UOB KayHian:
As RWS has scaled down its credit facilities to VIPs and expedited collection process (particularly on mainland China VIPs) over the past two quarters, bad debt provision is expected to decrease further in the 2H15. 2Q15’s provision has dropped to S$57m, from 1Q15’s S$76m and 4Q14’s S$82m.
We expect provisions to eventually come down to <S$40m/quarter, which is more reflective of its current (substantially lower) VIP GGR and receivables.