Crown feels the heat from Singapore

Crown says it is feeling the effect of competition from new casinos in Singapore, but may be in a better position when extensive refurbishments of its Melbourne and Perth casinos are completed.

‘‘We expect to continue to feel the impact of Singapore, and it’s a question as to how we can replace that business with new business out of China and also new business out of Singapore,’’ chief executive Rowen Craigie told reporters today. ‘‘We have programs in place to pursue both those objectives.’’

Crown reported a 14.9 per cent rise in annual net profit to $335.9 million for the 12 months to June 30, boosted by a $34.9 million gain from its 33 per cent stake in casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment in Macau.

The Crown casino in Melbourne and Burswood casino in Perth had a mixed performance as operations continued to be disrupted by renovations.

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Crown spent about $1.5 billion in capital expenditure from 2007 to 2011 and will spend about $540 million on Crown and Burswood in the 2012 financial year.

The company also said that in the second half of the 2010-11 financial year, a few areas of its Australian operations were affected by poor consumer sentiment.

Source: AAP

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As new casinos are being built in Singapore Crown Limited has to spend enormous amounts of capital to support the ongoing renovations that have been taking place for over one year. Crown Melbourne has lost many of its high rolling punters mainly from Asia due to the development of casinos in Singapore. What mostly attracted the Asian high rollers to Australia was the need for privacy, safety and social security. However that is now not enough as Singapore offers all that, and it’s only just around the corner from the Asian high rollers. The article discusses how Packer has renovated the common public gaming areas as well as upgrading and renovating the prestigious ‘Mahogany’ room where bets of hundreds of thousands are placed by the rich.