Hong Kong-based gaming investor International Entertainment Corp (IEC) has issued a profit warning for the 12 months to 31 March 2018, revealing that it expects to record total losses of almost HK$75 million.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, IEC said it expected to record losses “of not more than HK$75 million for the period as opposed to profit of HK$66.1 million the previous year. It added that it had restated the 2017 result to a loss of HK$41.8 million “after the group’s accounting policy for investment properties is changed from cost model to fair value model for the year ended 31 March 2018, which is applied retrospectively in accordance with the relevant accounting standard.
“The expected loss of the group for the year ended 31 March 2018 after the restatement was mainly due to, among other things, the fair value loss of the investment properties recorded in the current year.”
IEC announced last month that it has reached an agreement with The Stars Group to license the PokerStars brand for land-based live events and poker rooms across Asia, including in Macau, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia among others.
Stanley Choi – the Hong Kong businessman and high stakes poker player who took control of IEC in 2017 – told PokerNews in an interview that he is “very, very close” to securing a new home for live PokerStars branded events in Macau after the former PokerStars LIVE Macau poker room at City of Dreams was shut down in April.
