Word: citigroup
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Financial giant Citigroup has recently stepped up its efforts to prove to the world that the bank is on the mend. In January, CEO Vikram Pandit said his firm had made enormous progress in 2009. And in February, Citi launched a blog to note that among other things, the bank's focus is "Our Clients. Period." But there is one area where the bank says it is no longer exceptional: it's no longer taking U.S. government handouts...
...Just how much money has been poured in - and how daunting the challenge of recouping that money will be - are becoming clear as the first of Singapore's long-awaited casinos prepares to throw open its doors this month. Citigroup estimates that Resorts World Sentosa, slated to open in mid-February and which will include six hotels and a Universal Studios theme park, will have run a construction tab of roughly $4.5 billion. Adelson says his showpiece project on Marina Bay, boasting Singapore's largest hotel and one of Asia's biggest convention spaces, will cost roughly $5.5 billion...
...billion investment won't be easy. Even though it will be one of two exclusive casino operators, unlike Macau or Las Vegas, where there is fierce competition within a much larger pool, analysts and investors have set their initial expectations for Sentosa's gaming revenues "far too high," says Citigroup analyst Dominic Noel-Johnson. To meet Citigroup's relatively conservative 2011 gaming revenue estimate of $1.2 billion for Resorts World Sentosa - more than a third less than the consensus of other brokerage houses - every single foreign tourist expected to come to the island that year would have to visit either...
...stock, currently the most expensive gaming stock in the world. According to Noel-Johnson, Genting Singapore is trading at an estimated price-to-earnings ratio of over 60 for the current fiscal year. Even though he believes Resorts World Sentosa has the potential to be "a long-term success," Citigroup has slapped a "sell" rating on the stock...
...jobs for Singaporeans, as well as entice tourists from across Asia. "The Singapore government sees the casinos as a means to an end," explains Credit Suisse's Chan. "They want visitors to come to Singapore and spend money on entertainment and hotels and shopping, not purely on gambling." Citigroup expects the casinos to help push up visitor arrivals to 12.8 million by the end of 2011, roughly a third higher than where they stand today. Says Noel-Johnson, "The biggest winner will be the Singapore government because of the spillover effect on hotels and tourism." Even as the odds appear...