The casino’s land-based recovery powered most of Belle Corporation’s revenue growth in the first half of 2026, while a shrinking debt load helped convert that momentum into faster profit growth.
For several years, Belle Corporation’s sprawling casino investment in Manila offered investors something dependable but not necessarily dynamic: a large property generating regular rent from its operator, even as the gambling business itself worked through a difficult recovery.
In the first half of 2026, the more volatile side of that arrangement began to reassert itself.
Belle’s share of gaming revenue from City of Dreams Manila rose to 952.9 million pesos, an increase of 23 percent from 772.3 million pesos a year earlier. Growth became considerably stronger in the second quarter, when gaming revenue share climbed 37.5 percent from the same period in 2025.
That acceleration made the land-based casino the central story behind Belle’s improved results.
Consolidated revenue increased 10 percent to 2.73 billion pesos in the six months through June, while net income rose 22 percent to 976.8 million pesos. The increase in gaming revenue accounted for roughly 71 percent of the company’s total revenue gain, underscoring the extent to which activity at the casino floor, rather than at Belle’s real estate projects or lottery operations, drove the improvement.
The recovery also highlights the unusual structure of Belle’s exposure to City of Dreams Manila. Belle owns the land and buildings used by the integrated resort and receives lease income from Melco Resorts and Entertainment Philippines, its casino operator. At the same time, Belle participates in gaming revenue through its subsidiary, Premium Leisure Corporation.
The result is a combination that many casino landlords lack: a relatively stable stream of rental income paired with variable exposure to an improving gaming business.
Belle collected 1.175 billion pesos in lease income during the first half, almost unchanged from the corresponding period in 2025. Its gaming revenue share, by contrast, increased by 180.6 million pesos. Together, the two CODM-related streams generated approximately 2.13 billion pesos, equivalent to about 78 percent of Belle’s consolidated revenue.
The lease serves as the foundation. The gaming share supplies the growth.
A Stronger Second Quarter
The quarterly figures point to a recovery that became more visible as the year progressed.
Belle reported 467.2 million pesos in gaming revenue share during the second quarter, compared with 339.7 million pesos a year earlier. That represented year-over-year growth of 37.5 percent, up sharply from an estimated 12.3 percent increase in the first quarter.
The second-quarter comparison should still be interpreted with some caution. Gaming revenue share was about 3.8 percent lower than the 485.7 million pesos recorded in the first quarter of 2026. The pronounced year-over-year increase therefore reflects, at least in part, a weaker comparison with the second quarter of 2025.
Even so, the figures suggest that City of Dreams Manila has moved beyond merely stabilizing. The property is now producing meaningful year-over-year growth for Belle, with the strongest comparison appearing in the most recent quarter covered by the filing.
There is no indication in Belle’s report that the increase came from online or mobile gambling. The company identifies the amount simply as its share in gaming revenue at CODM, while Melco’s official description of the property emphasizes its physical mass-market and VIP gaming facilities. Belle did not disclose casino visitation, table drop, slot handle, VIP rolling volume or gaming hold rates, making it impossible to isolate whether the increase came from more customers, higher spending, favorable luck at the tables or a combination of those factors.
What the accounts do show is a land-based casino producing significantly more revenue without a corresponding increase in Belle’s direct cost base.
Operating Leverage Returns
Belle’s reported cost of gaming operations rose just 1 percent to 71.5 million pesos, even as its gaming revenue share increased 23 percent. The difference between the two figures grew by roughly 26 percent to 881.4 million pesos. That is not a formal measure of casino profit, since Belle records other expenses elsewhere, but it illustrates the operating leverage embedded in its revenue-sharing arrangement.
The broader gaming and gaming-related segment, which includes lottery activities in addition to Belle’s CODM interest, reported revenue of 1.23 billion pesos, an increase of approximately 13 percent. Segment net profit rose much faster, climbing 28 percent to 824.1 million pesos from 642.9 million pesos a year earlier.
That pushed the segment’s net profit margin to approximately 67 percent from 59 percent.
Not all of the margin expansion came from City of Dreams Manila. Costs at Belle’s lottery-services business declined, and the gaming segment incurred lower interest expense. But the increase in CODM gaming revenue was the segment’s largest identifiable source of top-line growth.
For Belle, the implication is significant. Once the fixed costs and corporate structure supporting its casino interest are in place, an additional peso of gaming revenue can contribute disproportionately to earnings.
Less Debt, More Earnings
The improvement at City of Dreams Manila arrived as Belle was also reducing the financial burden accumulated on its balance sheet.
The company’s consolidated debt stood at 4.21 billion pesos at the end of June, down 44 percent from 7.47 billion pesos a year earlier. Interest expense and other financing charges fell 27 percent to 246.5 million pesos.
That decline helped operating gains travel more directly to the bottom line. Operating income increased 11 percent, but pretax income and net income each grew 22 percent. Net profit attributable to Belle’s shareholders rose to 970.7 million pesos, an increase of nearly 25 percent.
The company’s debt-to-equity ratio improved to 0.11 from 0.19 a year earlier, while interest coverage increased to 4.97 times from 3.32 times. The balance sheet is not only carrying less debt; it is becoming less sensitive to borrowing costs and better positioned to retain the benefits of a stronger casino operation.
That creates a favorable, though not limitless, earnings cycle. Gaming revenue is rising, direct gaming costs remain relatively stable, and interest expense is falling. Each force is reinforcing the others.
The benefit from debt reduction will eventually diminish as borrowings reach a lower base. Future earnings growth will then depend more heavily on the durability of casino activity itself.
A Recovery With Concentration Risk
Belle’s reliance on City of Dreams Manila is both its principal strength and its most obvious vulnerability.
CODM’s lease and gaming revenue streams represented nearly four-fifths of consolidated revenue in the first half. That gives Belle substantial exposure to a recovering Manila casino market, but it also leaves the company dependent on a single integrated resort, its operator and the regulatory and consumer environment surrounding Philippine gaming.
For now, that concentration is working in Belle’s favor.
The company retains the defensive characteristics of a casino landlord through its stable lease income, while participating directly in the upside when the tables and slot machines become more productive. The first half of 2026 demonstrated the value of that structure: rent provided stability, gaming supplied most of the growth, and a lighter debt load allowed more of the increase to reach shareholders.
The clearest test will come during the second half. If quarterly gaming revenue share remains near the roughly 470 million to 490 million pesos recorded in the first two quarters, Belle’s land-based casino recovery would look increasingly durable. If it moves materially higher, CODM could shift from being primarily a stable source of cash to becoming Belle’s principal earnings-growth engine.
For a company whose fortunes once appeared anchored to the real estate beneath the casino, the action has moved back upstairs, to the gaming floor.
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Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes and is not investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs.
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