International Entertainment Corp revenue drops 77.8% in H1

| By Daniel O'Boyle
Hong Kong-based International Entertainment Corporation saw revenue drop 77.8% year-on-year to HKD$35.3m (£3.2m/€3.7m/USD$4.6m) in the six months to 31 December 2020, the first half of its financial year.

The business – which operates hotels and leases property to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) for a casino in the Philippines – made $20.9m from hotels and $14.5m from casino leasing in 2020. Casinos in the country were closed from mid-March until late August, when they reopened under restricted capacity limits.

International’s costs of sales were down 27.7% to $32.8m from a gross profit of $2.5m, down 97.8%.

The business also saw other income of $8.7m and other expenses of $5.5m, as well as a $43.1m expense through the change in fair value of investments and liabilities. After this and $40.0m in general and administrative expenses, International’s pre-tax loss was $90.0m, after a $55.1m profit the year before.

The business paid $1.0m in taxes for a $91.1m net loss. This compared to a $56.2m 2019 net profit.

After accounting for currency exchange fluctuations, International’s total comprehensive loss was $23.1m, which was 28.4% less than the total comprehensive loss in 2019. This difference was mostly due to discontinued operations counted as a loss on 2019’s balance sheet, but was also partly due to exchange rate changes.