Moody’s Ratings has upgraded the corporate family rating of Hong Kong-listed Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp Ltd to ‘B2’ from ‘B3’, with the outlook remaining ‘stable’.
“The upgrade reflects continued improvement in NagaCorp’s earnings and cash flow, supported by resilient performance at its mass market and premium segments,” wrote Anthony Prayugo, a Moody’s Ratings analyst, in a Thursday report.
In March, NagaCorp reported full-year 2025 net profit of US$309.9 million, up more than 180 percent from 2024. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at US$404.4 million last year, up from US$202.8 million in 2024.
The Hong Kong-listed firm has a long-life casino monopoly in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, where it runs the NagaWorld casino-resort complex (pictured).
The rating agency said NagaCorp’s rating reflected the “dominant position” of NagaWorld in Phnom Penh, “supported by the country’s low labour costs and favourable gaming tax rates”.
The B2 rating also takes into account on the risk side, the company’s “single-site operations, exposure to political risk and the evolving regulatory framework in Cambodia, uncertainty around its expansion-related capital spending, and limited access to external financing,” Moody’s noted.
The improvement in NagaCorp’s results in 2025 “was driven by higher business volumes across both the mass market and premium segments, as well as the introduction of higher-margin products,” Moody’s suggested.
Earlier this week NagaCorp reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) of nearly US$174.7 million for the first three months of 2026, up 2.1 percent year-on-year. The growth was supported by mass play, but revenue in the VIP segments was down.
Moody’s said it expects to see NagaCorp “generating EBITDA in excess of US$400 million in 2026, broadly in line with 2025 levels”.
“Continued foreign direct investment inflows into Cambodia should support increased visitation by business travellers and expatriates, underpinning stable earnings generation,” the institution added.
While NagaCorp’s capital spending plans for the NagaWorld expansion – known as Naga 3 – “remain uncertain following the withdrawal of promoter funding”, the rating agency suggested associated funding risks would in likelihood “remain manageable”.
NagaCorp in December announced the termination of a subscription agreement that would have seen the company raise funds for its Naga 3 expansion project at the NagaWorld casino complex.
Nonetheless, the company stated its intension to continue with the development of the Naga 3 project. The firm had previously said that it was likely to reduce the cost and scale of the expansion scheme.
“Although a revised capital expenditure budget has not yet been disclosed, we expect the final budget to be materially lower than the initial US$3.5 billion estimate and to be largely funded through internally generated cash flows,” Moody’s observed.
“Importantly, NagaCorp retains flexibility over the timing and pace of the expenditure, with no binding completion deadline,” it added.
As such, Moody’s expects NagaCorp’s credit metrics to “remain strong, supported by low leverage”.
According to the rating agency, the casino firm had US$184 million of debt, including lease liabilities, at end December 2025, including a US$70 million shareholder loan scheduled for repayment in May 2026.
Moody’s also said NagaCorp had “very good liquidity,” with cash and deposits of US$372 million as of December 31, 2025.
“Together with expected operating cash flow of around US$821 million through December 2027, these sources are sufficient to cover the company’s cash uses, which include the repayment of the US$70 million shareholder loan in May 2026, estimated capital spending of US$455 million and dividends of US$240 million,” the rating agency stated.
