A recent report from Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd said Philippine casino operator and developer Bloomberry Resorts Corp's new resorts are expected to be a "major contributor" to the company's earnings in the second half of this year.

Bloomberry operates Solaire Resort & Casino in Entertainment City in Manila, the country's capital. The company is also developing Solaire Resort North in Quezon, north of Manila, which is expected to open "by the second quarter of 2024," the brokerage said.

In terms of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), "Historically, it has taken one to three quarters for integrated resorts in the Philippines to break even."

"We expect Solaire [North] to achieve positive EBITDA in Q3 2024 and PHP8 billion ($142.2 million) EBITDA in 2025," analysts Gareth Leung and Praveen Choudhary wrote. The property's full-year EBITDA in 2023 is 40%.

“This represents a return on investment of approximately 15% for a project valued at approximately $1 billion,” the analysts added. “Solaire North’s ramps could be supported by the same membership system as Entertainment City Solaire.”

Another brokerage said Solaire North will add "approximately 150 mass tables and approximately 2,500 slot tables by the first half of 2024" to the Bloomberry business.

Morgan Stanley said Quezon City is a better location for a casino resort because it has "superior infrastructure" and it is "one of the richest cities in the Philippines" and "one of the largest sources of local wealth." . Gamblers go to the entertainment city.”

Bloomberry reported consolidated EBITDA of nearly 4.2 billion pesos in the three months ended September 30, up 15.1% from the same period last year. Revenue for the third quarter of 2023 was P10.74 billion, up 6.7% from the same period last year.

Morgan Stanley said it expects Bloomberry's full-year 2023 EBITDA to be 19.56 billion pesos, up from 14.19 billion pesos in 2022. 2023 EBITDA is expected to be 7% lower than its previous forecast "to reflect a softer second half of 2023," the brokerage said.

Bloomberry's EBITDA could grow to 21.28 billion pesos this year, down 12% from Morgan Stanley's previous forecast, due to "the late opening of Solaire North and slower entertainment city growth."