HONG KONG: The company based in Hong Kong saw passenger ticket revenue down 15.6 per cent but managed to increase gaming revenue by 10.5 per cent
The profit of Genting Hong Kong decreased 30.1 per cent year-on-year during the fiscal year of 2014 from US$552.4 million (MOP4.4 billion) to US$384.5 million (MOP3.1 billion), the company announced on Friday.
During last year the operator of casino cruise ships managed to increase revenues coming from gaming by 10.5 per cent year-on-year from US$315.7 million in 2013 to US$348.9 million. Based on the explanation of the company gaming volume declined during the year with the larger revenue primarily explained by higher blended hold rates.
Passenger ticket revenue also dropped 15.6 per cent year-on-year to US$134.8 million from US$159.6 million. This drop was mainly attributed to changes related to the cruise ships Virgo and Gemini.
‘Passenger ticket revenue decreased 15.6 per cent mainly due to the drydock of SuperStar Virgo as well as changes in deployment and itineraries of SuperStar Gemini and Virgo, which included the relocation of Gemini from Shanghai to Singapore and of Virgo from Singapore to Hong Kong in 2014’, the company explained.
In its annual results Genting also announced that the production of one of the two cruise ships ordered by the company started during February.
‘Star Cruises has two new cruise ships on order with Meyer Werft for delivery scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 2017, respectively. The production of Genting World, the first of its two new cruise ships in the pipeline, officially commenced following the steel cutting ceremony on 9 February 2015 at Papenburg.’
In relation to 2015, the company is not introducing many changes to the current itineraries of its cruise ships.
‘Virgo and Gemini will continue their homeport deployment in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively. Gemini will be offering various itineraries cruising to destinations including Penang, Langkawi, Port Klang and Malacca while Virgo will be offering destination cruises from April onwards to Sanya and Taiwan. SuperStar Aquarius will commence its seasonal deployment in Keelung, Taiwan from April’.
