MGM China Holdings Limited has announced total revenue of HK$3.9 billion for the first three months of 2017, a 7% year-on-year increase, and adjusted EBITDA of HK$1.2 billion – up 23% and enough to comfortably exceed expectations on the back of strong mass market results.
Property EBITDA margin for the quarter grew 412 basis points year-on-year to 31.4%, with mass business accounting for over 80% of the Group’s profit.
It included main floor table games win of HK$2.2 billion, up 17% in 1Q16 and exceeding the estimated 12% growth in Macau mass GGR across the board.
However, VIP table win was down 7% with MGM having scaled back its VIP operations on the Peninsula ahead of the opening of MGM Cotai later this year.
MGM China CEO and Executive Director Grant Bowie said, “MGM Macau continues to deliver strong results and our brand is well recognized for best in class service and product.
“We are pleased to see signs of stabilization in the Macau market as we prepare to launch our second resort, MGM Cotai in the second half of this year. MGM Cotai represents our company’s expertize in entertainment and marries that with the cutting edge technology, which will deliver experiences never before seen.”
Morgan Stanley’s Praveen Choudhary, Alex Poon and Thomas Allen said MGM’s results reflected impressive growth on the Macau Peninsula for the first quarter.
“Property EBITDA beat our estimate by 5%, driven by strong mass revenue (+13% quarter-on-quarter) as it moved tables from VIP to mass,” they said. “So far, based on three companies’ reports, Peninsula casinos have grown mass market and slot revenue by 10% quarter-on-quarter, higher than Cotai growth of 6% quarter-on-quarter.”