Melco Crown Entertainment cited across-the-board improvements in mass market gaming and rolling chip volumes for the robust gains it achieved in revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter and full year.
Adjusted EBITDA was up 7% for the three months ended 31st December to US$247.5 million on a 9% improvement in revenues to US$1.10 billion. The company said the increases were driven by stronger mass play and cost controls, partially offset by bad luck at the VIP tables. The company reported $108 million in profit for the three months, or 20 cents per share.
For the year, adjusted EBITDA was up 13.6% to $920.2 million on $4.1 billion of net revenue, an increase year on year of 8%. Net income for the year was $417.2 million, or 76 cents per share. Profit in 2011 totaled $294.7 million (55 cents per share).
Co-Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho called it a “stellar year” for the HKSE (6883) and Nasdaq-listed operator (MPEL). “Our flagship property, City of Dreams, continued to deliver impressive results, recording significant sequential and year-over-year improvements in operating fundamentals, particularly as it relates to the increasingly important premium mass segment.”
He noted also that the company’s Studio City megaresort on Cotai remains on track for a mid-2015 opening.
In the fourth quarter, City of Dreams posted an 18% increase in EBITDA to $219 million on an 11% increase in net revenue to $772.5 million. Rolling chip volume was up 15% to $23.5 billion. Mass market table games drop increased 24% to $1 billion. Slot handle was up 82% to $1.03 billion.
Rolling volume was down 1.6% at Altira Macau to $11.9 billion, but the property’s luck was a little better at a hold of 3.1%. Mass drop totaled $158.1 million, a 9% increase.
The company’s Mocha Clubs slot halls saw adjusted EBITDA fall 21% to $8.1 million on a 2% increase in net revenue to $35.3 million. The division’s 2,000 or so machines posted average win of $183 per unit compared with $200 in Q4 2011.
