Belle profit drops 30% to P2.56 B

MANILA, Philippines - Profits of Henry Sy-led Belle Corp. slipped by nearly a third last year due to lower non-recurring gains.

In a regulatory filing, the listed company said consolidated net income decreased 30 percent to P2.56 billion last year from P3.64 billion in 2013.

Belle said the decline was brought about by the P1.5 billion in higher net non-recurring gains booked in 2013.

“Excluding non-recurring items, Belle’s consolidated net income would have increased by approximately P 464 million from P572 million in 2013 to P1.04 billion in 2014,” the firm said.

Belle said it was able to achieve record operating revenues of P3.16 billion in 2014, 21 percent higher than the operating revenues in 2013 of P2.62 billion.

With the increase in revenues, Belle said recurring operating earnings last year rose 62 percent to P1.4 billion from P857 million the previous year.

“The company’s operating growth in 2014 was attributable to higher revenue from its lease of the City of Dreams Manila property to Philippine entities controlled by Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (MCE), higher income from sales of real estate and increased income from its listed subsidiaries — Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC) and Pacific Online Systems Corp.,” Belle said.

Belle’s principal assets include land and buildings located at Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque City which are being leased on a long-term basis to MCE.

The firm’s property, which has a size of 6.2 hectares and more than 30 hectares in building gross floor area, is the site of the City of Dreams Manila gaming and resort operations.

Belle also realizes a share in earnings from City of Dreams’ gaming operations through PLC, a 78.7-percent-owned subsidiary.

PLC has an operating agreement with MCE that entitles it a share of gaming revenues or earnings at City of Dreams Manila.

Belle said PLC reported net income of about P1.34 billion for 2014, a turnaround compared to a net loss of P8.7 million in 2013.