Melco Resorts & Entertainment announced total operating revenues of US$1.45 billion in the three months to 31 December 2019, a 3% increase over the prior year period thanks to strong mass market growth across all properties.
The company’s mass performance was enough to offset ongoing softness in the premium segments as well as bad luck in VIP at flagship property City of Dreams Macau – the one venue where rolling chip volume actually increased during the quarter.
“During the fourth quarter of 2019, despite macro headwinds and the events in Hong Kong, mass gaming operations at all of Melco’s integrated resorts have remained robust, which drove group-wide mass table games revenue to expand approximately 12% year-over-year to an all-time-record-high of US$850 million,” said Melco Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho.
“Adjusted Property EBITDA for the fiscal year 2019 has also expanded 14% year-over-year to reach an all-time-record-high of US$1,689 million.”
For 4Q19, Adjusted Property EBITDA fell 4% to US$409.8 million.
City of Dreams proved to be a strong performer for Melco, with total operating revenues up 4.5% to US$759.1 million, although Adjusted EBITDA fell slightly to US$210.4 million. The property ran badly in VIP, where a 39.8% increase in rolling chip volume to US$15.96 billion was impacted by a win rate of 2.65%, down from 3.19% in 4Q18.
Mass market table games drop increased 7.6% to US$1.41 billion, with gaming machine handle also rising 14.3% to US$1.20 billion.
At Studio City, total operating revenues grew 5.2% to US$358.3 million, with Adjusted EBITDA up 14.3% to US$117.4 million.
Rolling chip volume was US$2.46 billion in 4Q19, down from US$3.46 billion in the prior year period, while a high win rate of 3.60% was still below the 3.82% the property enjoyed 12 months earlier.
Mass market table games drop increased 6.6% to US$879.8 million with gaming machine handle up 8.4% to US$695.4 million.
Total Operating revenues at City of Dreams Manila fell very slightly to US$153.5 million in the quarter as Adjusted EBITDA declined by 20.6% to US$53.9 million. Melco cited increased competition in the market for a 15.1% fall in rolling chip volume to US$2.02 billion, although mass table games drop increased by 9.6% to US$216.3 million.
Gaming machine handle increased slightly to US$1.06 billion.
VIP softness was also evident at Altira Macau, where total operating revenues fell 17.2% to US$113.9 million. Rolling chip volume was down 35.4% to US$4.21 billion , but mass rose substantially with mass table drop up 31.9% to US$167.6 million and gaming machine handle from US$29.9 million in 4Q18 to US$81.1 million this time around.
Melco also reported growth in Cyprus, where it operates a temporary facility ahead of the opening of City of Dreams Mediterranean in 2021, plus three satellite casinos. The company said total operating revenues in Cyprus were US$24.7 million compared to US$15.6 million in 4Q18.
Melco has declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.05504 per ordinary share, payable to shareholders on 12 March 2020.
