Macau-based electronic gaming product distributor Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings Limited has issued a profit warning on an expected 85.5% decline in revenue for the nine months to 30 September 2021.
The decline, to around HK$5.5 million, is mainly attributable to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been “ongoing for approximately 21 months now [and] continues to affect adversely the operations of our customers, the land-based casinos,” APE said.
Notably, the HK$5.5 million in revenue APE expects to report for the first nine months of 2021 is less than half the HK$11.8 million in revenue the company previously reported for the six months through 30 June 2021. No reason was given for the change.
Instead, APE said only that revenues for technical sales and distribution of electronic gaming equipment recorded a decrease of 89.4% year-on-year, the consultancy and technical services segment a decrease of 32.2% and the repairs services segment a decrease of 65.3%.
Despite the decline, APE added that it expects to record a decrease in loss by approximately 44.7% from HK$23.5 million for the first nine months of 2020 to HK$13 million.
The loss of HK$32 million is significantly wider than a loss of HK$1.7 million The company had recorded a one-time write-off of finance lease receivables of approximately HK$22.8 million (US$2.9 million) in 2020 after it was forced to terminate two finance lease agreements for the leasing of electronic gaming equipment (EGE).
In response, APE recently launched a new “Smart Vending Machine” business with a handful of machines selling various snacks already deployed across Macau.
The company will publish its full results for 3Q21 and the first nine months of the year on 9 November.
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