Business

Tuesday November 17, 2009

Report: Gaming sector still resilient


KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian gaming sector is expected to maintain its resilience, says Moody’s Investors Service in its global corporate finance industry outlook research report released here yesterday.

Citing the recovering economy as a factor, it said the sector has also weathered through various economic cycles over the past decade.

“We do not expect the planned opening of two integrated gaming resorts in Singapore, nor the recent start of another in the Philippines, to materially affect the operations of rated operators in the region,” the report said.

The bulk of customers at Genting Bhd’s long-standing monopoly, at its Genting Highlands Resort in Malaysia, for instance, are day-trippers and local Malaysian gamblers, it said.

There will be a continuation of the long-term stability of the sector, particularly as the country’s economy sets to recover in 2010, it said.

It said the gaming sector had also shown a consistent track record of steady earnings growth across previous economic cycles.

“Even the Asian financial crisis of a decade ago, when Malaysia’s gross domestic product dropped by 7%, failed to seriously cut into the segment’s profit margins.” — Bernama

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