Galaxy Ent to pay no bonuses this year

The company will extend its unpaid licence scheme and has suspended contributions to employees’ pension funds.

Macau.- Galaxy Entertainment will not pay discretionary bonuses to middle management executives and below, or grant annual bonuses for top management this year.

In a video sent to employees, Vice Chairman Francis Lui revealed a series of decisions made by the group to cope with the financial hit of the Covid-19 pandemic.

One measure is to continue to use temporary unpaid leave arrangements to diminish the impact.

Galaxy has also suspended contributions to employees’ private pension funds, and will delay its annual salary reviews until April 2021.

Lui said all the measures would be temporary until business recovers from the fall in revenue caused by travel restrictions and social distancing measures in Macau.

He mentioned the rise in positive Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong, with the corresponding extension of quarantine measures until September, as well as the delay in the return of the Individual Visit Scheme from Guangdong province, as extending the hit on the group’s finances.

He said: “The company expects an unprecedented setback in 2020 earnings. Thus, it is inevitable for the company to make these difficult decisions.”

Analysts expect all Macau operators to post losses on the last quarter’s financial results, with Galaxy Entertainment expected to suffer a 134 per cent fall in earnings year-on-year.