The opening of an outdoor theme park at Resort World Genting, Malaysia’s only casino resort complex (pictured), has been delayed by more than 12 months from the third quarter of this year to the fourth quarter of 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19.
Friday’s note from Nomura Group cited guidance from management at the complex’s operator, Genting Malaysia Bhd.
The company posted a net loss of nearly $418 million ($96 million) in the first quarter, compared with a net profit of $268.3 million in the prior-year quarter, in its results released on Thursday, which blamed the deterioration of its business due to the impact of the pandemic.
Operations at the group’s resorts worldwide have been temporarily suspended since mid-March in an effort to stem the further spread of the coronavirus pandemic. All resorts remain closed in Malaysia.
“Delaying the theme park’s opening date from the third quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021 due to travel restrictions, weakening demand and slowing work rates during COVID-19 is a major negative point of the results announcement,” Nomura Research analysts Tushar Mohata and Alpha Aggarwal said in a note on Friday.
According to a note on Thursday by Samuel Yin Sao Yang of Maybank IB Research in Malaysia, the agency expected annual earnings in 2022 to rise 37% to just over 3.1 billion yuan “as Resort World Genting’s outdoor theme park opens and increases”.
In October, Maybank said outdoor theme parks at the resort in Genting Highlands outside Kuala Lumpur would cost more than $700 million, in line with guidance from Malaysia’s Genting management, something Maybank did not expect.
The origins of outdoor theme parks were long and complicated.
It is part of a more general overhaul of the resort world genting site through a scheme called the ‘Genting Integrated Tourism Plan’ or ‘GIP’. It included the expansion and renovation of the entire complex. The initial capital budget for the entire scheme was set at 5 billion yuan, but it more than doubled in early 2016.
Outdoor theme parks were originally supposed to have a “20th Century Fox” brand, and in 2014, based on management guidelines, there were comments from analysts that they may open in 2016. In March 2016, Nomura comments said the park’s launch “would not happen before the end of 2017.”
In November 2018, Genting Malaysia filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney Co, a company involved in the acquisition of some Fox-branded intellectual property assets, Fox Entertainment Group LLC, and some of its affiliates for about $1 billion. Genting has claimed malice for delays in the theme park project.
In July 2019, Genting Malaysia said it had reached an agreement to “completely resolve” the lawsuit.
BY: 릴게임