With all the details of the celebrations due to be released soon, preparations are already well underway for marking the 40th Anniversary of Genting Berhad. Together with its subsidiaries the company will be offering special rates and promotions to the public in what promises to be a good year. A higher than average 12% rise in visitors to the Highland resort run by Genting’s Resort World Bhd has been predicted to coincide with the anniversary celebrations, and strong earnings growth is expected.

Room capacity has been increased lately with the newly opened First World Hotel adding 1,000 rooms and a further 1,000 due before the end of the year, making First World the hotel with most rooms in the world. Genting, as many gaming companies worldwide, is also increasingly targeting younger players and has opened Star World with more electronic games in the First World Plaza.

Although Resort World is the gaming company in the Genting stable, a different company is involved with Genting’s expansion into Britain. A subsidiary, Genting International, has formed a 50-50 partnership with the UK’s Stanley Leisure for the development of casino resorts after the new Gambling Law is passed, is in the process of acquiring London’s Maxims Club from Gala, and has recently increased its stake in another UK company, London Clubs International, to over 19%.

‘Buy’ calls have been made on both Genting and Resorts World, and analysts say the group’s persistently strong earnings growth deserves a higher valuation. Genting is widely diversified with interests in plantations, power and paper as well as gaming. The company is also looking towards Singapore, where it would like to get the possible casino resort licence proposed by the Singapore government.

With excess cash to spend, Genting is likely to seek further overseas expansion over the coming year in both casinos and power ventures. Even without new acquisitions earnings growth is predicted to be around 10.8% this year and increase to 17.2% in 2006. Genting Bhd is looking like a good bet.

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