TOURISM and leisure developer Belle Corp., a subsidiary of Sy-led SM Investments Corp., said net income for the first nine months of 2024 had fallen 22.2 percent, to P1.53 billion from P1.97 billion in the same period last year, due to the weaker performance of the gaming segment.

"The decrease in bottom line is mainly attributed to lower revenues from the gaming business units," Belle said its quarterly report filed last week.

The company reported nine-month consolidated revenues of P4.1 billion, down 5 percent last year's P4.3 billion.

Revenue from real estate operations rose 10 percent year-on-year to P2.2 billion, with property management operations at the Tagaytay Highlands complex, its legacy asset south of Manila, contributing P464.2 million, down 7 percent from last year.

In the gaming business, Belle's revenue share in the City of Dreams, through its subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC), dropped 17 percent to P1.5 billion from P1.8 billion last year.

Income from the long-term lease of City of Dreams Manila to Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp. contributed another P1.74 billion, up 6 percent from P1.5 billion last year.

PLC last June acquired Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc. and a 50.1 percent stake in Pacific Online Systems Corp. (POSC) from PLC's parent company, Belle.

POSC, which leases online betting equipment to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office through its 50-percent owned joint venture PinoyLotto Technologies Corp., also reported lower nine-month revenues of P398 million from P502.4 million a year ago.

Belle's principal asset is the land and buildings occupied by City of Dreams Manila in Pagcor Entertainment City, which is being leased on a long-term basis to Melco. It also gets a share in revenues from City of Dreams Manila's gaming operations through its 99.55 percent ownership in PLC.

The company's shares on Friday closed up 2.21 percent at P1.85 apiece.