Bloomberg – Crown Resorts Ltd. (CWN), the gaming company controlled by billionaire James Packer, slumped after first-half profit missed analyst estimates as a 26 percent decline in bets from high-rolling gamblers weighed on earnings.
Net income was A$382.5 million ($344 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31, the Melbourne-based company said in a regulatory statement today, more than double the A$180.8 million result a year earlier. Crown fell 3.2 percent to A$16.68 at the close in Sydney trading, the biggest decline since Dec. 13.
Australian casino companies are counting on growing demand from high-spending Chinese and other Asian tourists to justify more than A$2 billion in investments in new hotels and gaming rooms. Turnover from the VIP program at the Crown Melbourne casino fell 33 percent in the period amid “competitive challenges,” the company said.
“It’s slightly worrying what’s happening in the VIP market,” Killian Murphy, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. in Sydney, said by phone after the results. “The casinos round the region are all very competitive and it’s a small pool of players.”
