KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): Genting Singapore Ltd is currently unable to estimate the financial impact on its results for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21) as “the global Covid-19 situation remained very fluid as at the date on which Genting Singapore Group’s financial statements were authorised for issue”, according to Genting Bhd’s FY20 audited annual accounts. 

“Notwithstanding this, Genting Singapore Group has assessed that the going concern basis of preparation for this set of financial statements  (FY21) remains appropriate,” noted Genting.

Genting Singapore is a 52.7%-owned subsidiary of Genting.

Genting said Covid-19 had caused major disruption to the travel and tourism industry as the pandemic resulted in border closures and other measures imposed by various governments.

On top of that, as part of the Singapore government’s circuit breaker measures, most of the service offerings of Genting Singapore’s integrated resort at Resorts World Sentosa, including attractions and the casino, were suspended from April 7 to June 30, 2020.

This had a negative impact on Genting Singapore’s financial performance for FY20 as the integrated resort was built predominantly to attract large-scale international demand.

To recap, Genting Singapore reported a 90% plunge in earnings to just S$69.2 million (RM212.25 million) for FY20, from earnings of S$688.6 million recorded for FY19.  Revenue for FY20 was down 57% year-on-year (y-o-y) to S$1.06 billion from S$2.48 billion recorded for FY19.

The company also cut its dividend to just one cent a share from 2.5 cents for FY19.

This morning, Genting Singapore shares were up 1.5 sen or 1.71% at S$0.89, valuing it at S$10.76 billion. 

Meanwhile, Genting’s share price on Bursa Malaysia was down one sen or 0.19% at RM5.16 at the time of writing today, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM20 billion, with 1.54 million shares traded.