Sun International records a 30% spike in post pandemic revenue in the first six months of 2022. This development has facilitated its desire to pay dividends to its shareholders. The operator had been struggling to pay dividends for six years due to financial constraints.
The outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic had the company in some financial challenges that stopped it from operating fully. This prompted the company to shut down operations. However, the company has seemed to bounce back from the egregious encounter as it recorded a notable increase in profit.
Sun International owns nine casinos and four resorts all based in South Africa. Nevertheless, it is important to stress that the majority of the revenues recorded was from the casino and slot business. The gaming business was reported by Sun International to scale up by 37% in revenue, which is about ZAR5.2bn or $306.5m.
Subsequently, this turn of events has financially reinvigorated the conglomerate who will now pay a dividend of $0.05 per share. “As a result of the significantly stronger financial position and the strong cash generation, the board has resolved to resume dividend payments.” – reported by Sun International in its trading statement.
In addition, Sun International affirmed that intentional observation on certain market segments and judicious use of available data helped improve its revenue. In total, the casino business generated ZAR3.14bn while the income which was 34% up is ZAR2.94bn. After the covid-19 restrictions were relaxed, the slot business was revived and the income increased from ZAR608m to ZAR717m.
“Our operations improved significantly during the first six months of 2022, due to the last pandemic-related restrictions having been lifted and we anticipate that this trend will continue for the remainder of the year.” – the conglomerate stated.
On the other hand, the betting division, SunBet generated an income of ZAR125m. This is low compared to the income generated through slots and casinos. To improve income generated through SunBet, the Conglomerate aims to expand to new markets.
In fact, it has already made an official decision to have a 70% investment in a Mauritian company. The Mauritian company has betting and casino licences to operate in Ghana, Zambia and Kenya.