Belle income drops to P1.1 B

MANILA, Philippines - Belle Corp., the SM Group’s high-end leisure property and gaming firm, reported a net income of P1.1 billion in the first nine months of the year, 38.6 percent lower than the P1.86 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Operating revenues, however, more than doubled to P4 billion from January to September, driven by higher revenues from the lease of the City of Dreams Manila property to Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.

The growth in revenue was also due to increased income contributed by subsidiaries PLC and Pacific Online Systems Corp.

PLC has an operating agreement with Melco Crown which gives it a share of gaming revenues or earnings at City of Dreams Manila.  Belle owns 78.7 percent of PLC.

Given its strong operating performance, Belle has already paid a total of P2.9 billion in cash dividends to its shareholders last year.

Belle’s principal assets include land and buildings located at the Pagcor Entertaintment City, which are being leased on a long-term basis to Melco Crown. 

City of Dreams Manila includes about two hectares of gaming space, more than 900 hotel rooms operated under three hotel brands (namely Crown, Hyatt and Nobu), the DreamPlay indoor family amusement park, and around two hectares of restaurant and retail space.

Belle also owns significant real estate assets in and around Tagaytay City, which consist of premium residential properties for sale and approximately 800 hectares of land held for future development.