Genting Group is a famous regional casino with 50 years of history, started in Malaysia (Genting Highland), then extending to whole world, including Singapore, UK and US, currently aiming for Japan casino license. Usually there is no certainty in a business but casino is a unique sector which is almost guaranteed to win due to the “unfair” design of games (神机妙算) in favour of the house if there are positive incoming tourists in the region with supporting local government.
Casino stocks are usually cyclic in nature as business is dependent on economy condition, especially on wealthy gamblers (VIP and premium members) which may have more capital for gambling when stock market is bullish or vice versa.
Read the article further to understand the potential of Genting Group, both risks and opportunities, not learning only 1 but all 5 Genting stocks: Genting Berhad, Genting Malaysia, Genting Singapore, Genting Hong Kong, Genting Plantation.
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Genting Berhad is the parent stock, owning other 4 subsidiaries Genting companies with 4 distinct businesses:
1) Genting Berhad (Bursa: 3182) – Malaysia Giant Blue Chip Stock
2) Genting Malaysia (Bursa: 4715) – Malaysia Giant Casino Stock
3) Genting Singapore (SGX: G13) – Singapore Giant CasinoStock
4) Genting Hong Kong (HKEx: 678) – Hong Kong Cruise / ResortStock
5) Genting Plantations (Bursa: 2291) – Malaysia Giant Palm Oil / Property Stock
Genting Group main business is related to casino (main focus of this article). It diversifies business into plantation / property (through Genting Plantations, a giant stock but affected by low optimism palm oil prices) and cruise / resort (through Genting Kong Hong, a weak fundamental stock, would get worse during Coronavirus crisis).
Genting casino business depends on licenses issued by local country: monopoly in Malaysia, duopoly in Singapore (another casino is MBS – Marina Bay Sands), competing with many others in UK (the largest casino operator) and US. Despite casino is a “sure win” business, it requires huge capex in building the casino and integrated resort, paying high tax to local government and business is dependent on tourism (eg. casino business is badly affected for at least 2 months without income during global lockdown).
An investor may invest directly in Genting Berhad (parent stock) if requires more diversification of businesses and also casino business over the world (not dependent on certain country). Here, we would focus on 2 casino stocks in 2 countries, Genting Malaysia (which includes casino in Malaysia, UK, US) and Genting Singapore (which includes casino in Singapore and possibly Japan if license is obtained).
2) Genting Malaysia (Bursa: 4715) – Malaysia Giant Casino Stock
The founder of Genting is Mr Lim Goh Tong (林梧桐) who was already a successful businessman before taking high risks in building the first casino in Malaysia without government assistance in 1960s. During the construction of Genting Highland resort (which later becomes a casino), he nearly died 6 times in various unexpected accidents. He is awarded the only casino license (more than 50 years till now), a legend in Malaysia history.
When Dr Tee was still a small kid, I remember my first trip in life was around 9 years old to Genting Highland. Of course, I could not enter casino as a child. After growing up, I have been to casino all over the world: US (Las Vegas, Atlantic City), Malaysia (finally), Macau (a few there, see earlier article in my trip report to Hong Kong / Macau), Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane), etc, except for Singapore (well, there is admission fee for local Singapore people). I like to visit casino but I seldom gamble (similar to windows shopping) because I understand lower probability of winning for most games, only those who are lucky may win eventually (with condition to stop gambling for the rest of life after the win). Instead, I like to watch the reaction of gamblers, 9/10 are not smiling, likely losing money, trying to gamble more to win back the money.
Stock “investing” with stock tips or rumour or “insider news” is similar to gambling. A smart stock investor has to firstly understand the business (both risks and opportunities), sector prospect and stock market outlook for country and even the whole world. Let’s learn step by step here.
Genting Malaysia is a giant casino stock, business has been stable over the past 10 years, growing in revenue but stagnant in net profit, partly due to higher tax and also global expansion plans with more casino. It could generate steady cash flow (due to unlimited greed of gamblers who volunteer to donate or contribute money unknowingly) and having a culture to pay dividend which is growing each year (current dividend yield is 6.3%).
Of course, cash flow of Genting worldwide casino would be reduced by at least 2/12 months during the global lockdown, 20% or even more deduction in Year 2020. The situation would improve gradually when Coronavirus has subsided over the next few months. It is hard to stop an addicted gambler from gambling for 2 months, likely the person may double the capital for gambling next time when Coronavirus fear is over. It is a sad social issue why some people are against gambling as it could destroy a family, although it also brings additional national revenue.
Over the past few years with weaker Malaysia stock market, Genting Malaysia has dropped more than 50% in share prices (low in last few months of global stock crisis is comparable to 11 years low in Year 2009), currently at low optimism < 25%, aligning with bearish KLCI Index in Malaysia (recovering in last few weeks). Both Genting Berhad and Genting Malaysia are 2 of 30 KLCI component stocks in Malaysia. More importantly, casino business has 50 years of history in Malaysia, the monopoly business would continue to be a strong economic moat for Genting Malaysia. When KLCI recovers, both Genting Malaysia and Genting Berhad would get more support in uptrend share prices.
3) Genting Singapore (SGX: G13) – Singapore Giant CasinoStock
Singapore took a long time to finally accept casino operating in the island. Many years ago, Singapore gamblers have to go overseas (nearest is cruise in international sea or Genting Highland) when nature calls. Now, they could gamble within the island (local people has additional restrictions such as admission fee but probably could only stop some people such as Dr Tee from visiting), either in Resort World Sentosa (RWS, belongs to Genting Singapore) or MBS (belongs to Las Vegas Sands, NYSE: LVS, another overseas casino stock with reasonable business fundamental). This way, at least the losses of gamblers could be recycled to help the Singapore needy people (through government tax) and also Singapore investors (who invest in Genting Singapore).
In fact, gamblers of Genting Singapore are mostly from overseas, eg. China, Malaysia and regional countries. So, lockdown in the regional during Coronavirus pandemic would definitely affect the Genting Singapore business. During the last few months of global stock crisis, Genting Singapore share price is corrected by about 40%, low of 51 cent/share is 11 years low since Year 2009 (last Global Financial Crisis). Currently Genting Singapore is still at low optimism < 25%, aligning with bearish STI Index in Singapore (recovering in last few weeks). Genting Singapore is 1 of 30 STI component stocks in Singapore, trends of prices are well aligned with country and global stock market due to better outlook of Coronavirus condition.
Singapore government has granted both Genting Singapore (RWS) and MBS to expand further in future with more investment in non-gaming infrastructures to exchange for exclusive casino licenses till year 2030. Building of integrated resort and other new tourist attractions (capex for casino companies) would help to attract more overseas tourists to Singapore. So, this is a positive long term plan but will take up a lot of cash (capex) from Genting Singapore which may reduce the free cash flow and dividend for the next 10 years. The application of casino license in Japan is both a risk and opportunity for Genting Singapore as the share prices will be up or down, depending on the unpredictable outcome. Regional expansion is a good move, especially in related casino and integrated resort business. For Genting Singapore and most casino, main revenue generator is gaming business (over 70%, especially VIP and premium members). “Integrated resort” is mainly a way of marketing to attract more tourists to come, which some of them would drop by casino during free time, contributing some money to local economy through gambling.
Both Genting Singapore and Genting Malaysia are cyclic in nature for share prices, therefore buying casino stocks at lower optimism prices in bearish economy would have higher upside potential as casino business is more defensive in nature (assuming Coronavirus pandemic would end eventually, gambles coming back again). However, it is more suitable for investors with stronger holding power because what if economic condition is beyond recovery (eg. permanent job loss, lower productivity with negative GDP, etc), stock market may fall to a new low during global financial crisis (of course, gamblers would continue to gamble, especially when they have limited money, thinking casino is the quickest place to make money). Genting Group has good culture of dividend payment over the decades, the same Lim family (Chairman is son of founder, Lim Kok Thay) would help to support the stock investors with 5-6% dividend yield (assuming casino may lose 50% gamblers, still have 3% dividend yield) during the winter time.
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So, gambling in casino is to give money to casino (not acceptable). However, investing in casino stock is to share the profits of gambling with casino and contributing high tax to local government to help the needy people (could be considered). However, not all casino stocks are good, therefore careful selection is important. In fact, there is another casino giant stock (the owner is also the Top 10 richest person in Malaysia, same list as Lim Kok Thay, boss of Genting Group) listed in Hong Kong, even stronger than Genting casino business. I won’t mention here, interested readers may do a google of Top 10 richest person in Malaysia and their related businesses.
There are 30 STI index component stocks including Genting Singapore (investor has to focus only on giant stocks for investing):
DBS Bank (SGX: D05), Singtel (SGX: Z74), OCBC Bank (SGX: O39), UOB Bank (SGX: U11), Wilmar International (SGX: F34), Jardine Matheson Holdings JMH (SGX: J36), Jardine Strategic Holdings JSH (SGX: J37), Thai Beverage (SGX: Y92), CapitaLand (SGX: C31), Ascendas Reit (SGX: A17U), Singapore Airlines (SGX: C6L), ST Engineering (SGX: S63), Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), Hongkong Land (SGX: H78), Genting Singapore (SGX: G13), Mapletree Logistics Trust (SGX: M44U), Jardine Cycle & Carriage (SGX: C07), Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX: ME8U), City Development (SGX: C09), CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U), CapitaLand Commercial Trust (SGX: C61U), Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), Dairy Farm International (SGX: D01), UOL (SGX: U14), Venture Corporation (SGX: V03), YZJ Shipbldg SGD (SGX: BS6), Sembcorp Industries (SGX: U96), SATS (SGX: S58), ComfortDelGro (SGX: C52).
There are 30 Malaysia Bursa KLCI index component stocks including Genting Berhard and Genting Malaysia (investor has to focus only on giant stocks for investing):
CIMB (Bursa: 1023) CIMB GROUP HOLDINGS BERHAD, DIALOG (Bursa: 7277) DIALOG GROUP BERHAD, DIGI (Bursa: 6947) DIGI.COM BERHAD, GENM (Bursa: 4715) GENTING MALAYSIA BERHAD, GENTING (Bursa: 3182) GENTING BERHAD, HAPSENG (Bursa: 3034) HAP SENG CONSOLIDATED BERHAD, HARTA (Bursa: 5168) HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BERHAD, HLBANK (Bursa: 5819) HONG LEONG BANK BERHAD, HLFG (Bursa: 1082) HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP BERHAD, IHH (Bursa: 5225) IHH HEALTHCARE BERHAD, IOICORP (1961) IOI CORPORATION BERHAD, KLCC (Bursa: 5235SS) KLCC PROPERTY HOLDINGS BERHAD, KLK (Bursa: 2445) KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BERHAD, MAXIS (Bursa: 6012) MAXIS BERHAD, MAYBANK (Bursa: 1155) MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD, MISC (Bursa: 3816) MISC BERHAD, NESTLE (Bursa: 4707) NESTLE MALAYSIA BERHAD, PBBANK (Bursa: 1295) PUBLIC BANK BERHAD, PCHEM (Bursa: 5183) PETRONAS CHEMICALS GROUP BERHAD, PETDAG (Bursa: 5681) PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD, PETGAS (Bursa: 6033) PETRONAS GAS BERHAD, PMETAL (Bursa: 8869) PRESS METAL ALUMINIUM HOLDINGS BERHAD, PPB (Bursa: 4065) PPB GROUP BERHAD, RHBBANK (Bursa: 1066) RHB BANK BERHAD, SIME (Bursa: 4197) SIME DARBY BERHAD, SIMEPLT (Bursa: 5285) SIME DARBY PLANTATION BERHAD, TENAGA (Bursa: 5347) TENAGA NASIONAL BHD, TM (Bursa: 4863) TELEKOM MALAYSIA BERHAD, TOPGLOV (Bursa: 7113) TOP GLOVE CORPORATION BHD.
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