In the first half of the year, Sun International, the company that owns properties like Sun City and the Wild Coast Sun, reported increased profits.
Strong results in sportsbetting and the hotel sector drove this growth.
However, challenges such as load shedding impacting their limited payout machines business and currency devaluation in Nigeria have affected their performance.
Despite these challenges, Sun International expresses optimism about achieving double-digit growth in adjusted profits for the first half of the year.
The positive outlook to the tourism recovery and the success of their online sports betting platform, SunBet.
The company projects a rise in headline earnings per share between 73% and 98% for the six months ending in June.
Yet, due to accounting adjustments linked to dollar-denominated loans in Nigeria, they anticipate an increase of up to 12% in adjusted headline earnings.
SunBet’s performance is particularly notable, achieving record income and progressing toward ambitious growth targets.
The company has also effectively managed its debt and capital, maintaining steady net debt compared to the previous year.
Sun International operates several hotels and resorts in South Africa, along with urban casinos across various provinces.
Their Nigerian operations, including a hotel and casino, felt the impact of a significant currency devaluation by the Nigerian central bank.
Despite challenges like load shedding affecting their limited payout machines, the company’s overall performance is deemed satisfactory in a challenging environment.
Muneer Ahmed, an equity analyst at Denker Capital, emphasizes focusing on the adjusted profit metric.
He acknowledges the difficulties posed by load shedding and the slow recovery of urban casinos, but he considers the performance commendable given the circumstances.
Ahmed also praises the company’s progress in managing debt over the past year and expresses hope for further debt reduction, given the high-interest rate environment.
Sun International’s shares experienced a nearly 3% increase in morning trading and have risen more than 20% over the past year.
