MGM China Holdings Ltd has declared a Special Dividend of HK$0.104 per share for FY23, becoming just the second of Macau’s concessionaires to resume the payment of dividends since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The dividend formed part of the company’s final results announcement for 2023, published Thursday, which saw MGM China record a profit attributable to owners of the company of HK$2.64 billion (US$337.4 million) – reversing a HK$5.23 billion (US$669 million) loss a year earlier.
MGM China said the Special Dividend amounted to an aggregate amount of HK$395.2 million (US$50.5 million) or 15% of the group’s profit.
The finalized FY23 results, coming just weeks after parent company MGM Resorts released its results, include casino revenue of HK$21.8 billion (US$2.79 billion), up 391% year-on-year, and Adjusted EBITDA of HK$7.24 billion (US$926 million), reversing a HK$1.27 billion (US$162 million) loss in 2022.
“The Board has resolved to declare the Special Dividend and recommend the payment of the Final Dividend after reviewing the Group’s general financial position as at 21 March 2024, its capital requirements going forward and other factors that the Board considered relevant, and determined that the Group has sufficient resources, after the payment of the Special Dividend and subject to the Shareholders’ approval, the Final Dividend, to finance its operations and expansion of its business,” MGM China said.
The company earlier this week revealed it had also terminated a US$750 million revolving loan facility provided by its parent due to the significant level of recovery it had seen in 2023, resulting in all-time record EBITDA for both the year as a whole and for the December quarter.
Galaxy Entertainment Group has until now been the only Macau concessionaire to resume the payment of dividends to shareholders, with analysts only recently suggesting it was unlikely any other concessionaires would follow suit until 2025.