Genting's new S'pore casino helps lift Q2 profit

SINGAPORE Aug 12 (Reuters) - Genting Singapore (GENS.SI) on Thursday posted a profit for the second quarter, boosted by contributions from its new Singapore casino which opened in mid-February this year.

Genting, which also has casinos in Britain, made a net profit of S$396.5 million ($290.7 million) in the three months ended March, turning around from a loss of S$50.7 million a year ago.

The Singapore casino, Resorts World at Sentosa, recorded revenue of S$860.8 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of S$503.5 million for the second quarter.

The Universal Studio Singapore theme park, which is part of Resorts World, increased its daily maximum capacity to about 8,000 with an average visitor spend of S$84, said Genting, a unit of Malaysia's Genting Bhd (GENT.KL), in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.

Occupancy at Resorts World's hotels was 70 percent for the period with an average room rate of S$263 a night, the firm added.

Singapore legalised casinos in 2005 and allowed the building of two multi-billion-dollar casino-resorts as part of a plan to double visitor arrivals to 17 million by 2015.

The city-state's second casino, Las Vegas Sands' (LVS.N) Marina Bay Sands, opened in April this year.

Visitor arrivals in Singapore have hit successive monthly record highs since the start of the year, breaching the 1 million a month mark for the first time in history in July. ($1=1.364 Singapore Dollar) (Reporting by Kevin Lim; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)