KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Shares in both Genting Bhd and its 49.45%-owned hilltop casino operator Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) surged to a high in more than four months, following a strong sequential recovery in Genting Singapore’s (GenS) earnings for the third quarter (3Q) ended Sept 30, 2020.
At 3.40pm today, Genting was 34 sen or 8.97% higher at RM4.13, valuing the company at RM16.01 billion. Some 40.63 million shares were traded. Year to date (YTD), however, the counter was still 28% lower from RM5.73.
GenM, on the other hand, grew 11 sen or 4.53% to RM2.54, with some 44.48 million shares traded. YTD, the stock was also down 16% from RM3.03, bringing its market capitalisation to RM15.08 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd research vice-president Vincent Lau told theedgemarkets.com that the uptrend of these counters was due to them being a “recovery play” as well as progress in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine and GenS’ 3Q results.
“It is likely that GenM will see an improvement this coming quarter — as GenS did. With international borders remaining closed, tourism spending would remain within the local economy,” said Lau.
Genting’s 52.66%-owned Singapore-based casino operator, which operates Resorts World Sentosa, reported earnings of nearly S$54.5 million (RM166.82 million) for 3Q, compared to losses of S$163.3 million for the preceding quarter ended June 30 (2Q), as lockdown measures were eased, while its revenue jumped seven times to S$300.1 million from S$41.3 million for 2Q.
On a year-on-year basis, earnings were down 66%, while revenue was halved.