Management seemed a little more upbeat about Macau, and Las Vegas had a surprisingly strong quarter in terms of volumes and revenues.
CONF CALL NOTES
- Had a good performance in Las Vegas this quarter. Volumes are satisfactory, improving ever so slightly. They have enjoyed the advantages of being a niche operator so their room revenues are better.
- In Macau, they are basically flat YoY YTD. Considering all the new capacity being added this year, Steve is heartened by that. Feel the strain of competition on the high limit slots. They will be improving their high limit slot room shortly. The level of competition in Macau is terrific.
- Confident that Wynn Macau will continue to garner more than their fair share of the business.
- If business continues to ramp up and improve, then, as economic conditions allow, they will increase their regular dividend. It will also allow them to become attractive to yield focused investors
Q&A
- Collections in Macau? Credit has tightened in the market place so they have been more prudent than in the past so their collection rates have not been impacted
- Plenty of cash in the US today to fund their dividends. Their board will meet to discuss Wynn Macau's dividend.
- Cash in Macau: $1.4BN post dividend (Wynn Macau), $500MM post dividend (Wynn LV)
- Going forward their dividend policy will be conservative to allow them to provide for their employees and money for projects, so long as the government policy remains favorable to dividends
- Had some junket space, F&B, and retail out of service this quarter. Have a brand new junket space (taken back from International group) opening on November 1st. Should see some improvement in 4Q and 1Q13.
- Lost some of their high limit slot business - not the very high end but the meaty part - should open a new room to compete better by CNY.
- They give away as much in promotional allowances as they can afford to. Would rather lose some top line than lose bottom line. So Steve doesn't know if their share in Macau has stabilized.
- They are worried about the labor issues but not so much about the other projects but also all the infrastructure projects that are ongoing. The other project announcements do not impact their project thinking at all. Government is taking a more relaxed outlook on labor importing as well. Currently, they have enough labor for foundation. Don't see any issues over the next 12 months. Beyond that, it depends on all the other projects under construction, not just gaming.
- Any change in the decelerating VIP trends in Macau? Things have stabilized in Macau and credit has loosened.
- They build a rendering of the Cotai project in Macau in real scale, which you can see if you go over there. Should be finished before Christmas.
- Finished drainage work by November. Think that they can start pilings after that.
- 60% of the project cost is already financed. Most (75%) of the spending will take place between mid 2014 through 2016. Want to open by CNY 2016. Doesn't think that they will have a labor problem constructing it.
- How are WYNN's small business customers in the US and China feeling? Hopes that the uncertainty in the US will be resolved during the elections which will occur in the next few weeks. In China, there are some feelings that more businesses need to be privatized and liberalized (i.e. decentralization) in response to the country's rapid expansion.
- Does not think that the VIP market is tapped in Macau
- 2,000 SQFT- getting paid $6MM/year for a retail location in Wynn Macau
- Their goal in Cotai is to be everyone's first choice
- In Macau - they had pretty much the same hold in direct and junket play
- In Macau they had some retail space under construction and the rest of subpar performance was just less super high-end watch sales
- Everyone got nervous during the summer and there was some tightening of credit; since then, things have loosened. Things really feel better today then a few months ago
- Generally speaking, they think that the market is terrific in Macau
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RELEASE
- Net revenues were $1,298.5 million and Adjusted property EBITDA was $402.6 million
- "Wynn Resorts also announced today that the Company has approved an $8.00 cash dividend, which includes the $0.50 per common share quarterly dividend. This dividend will be payable on November 20, 2012, to stockholders of record on November 7, 2012 and the stock will begin to trade ex-dividend on November 5, 2012. Additionally, the Company plans on increasing its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share in 2013."
- Macau: Net revenue of $910.5MM and Adjusted EBITDA of $292MM
- "Gross non-casino revenues decreased 5.3% during the quarter to $97.2 million, primarily due to an 8.5% decline in retail revenues resulting from lower sales in some of our watch stores."
- Wynn Cotai: "The Company currently estimates the project budget to be in the range of $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion. The Company expects to establish a guaranteed maximum price for the project construction costs in the first half of 2013."
- Las Vegas: Net revenue of $388MM and adjusted EBITDA of $110.4MM
- Gross non-casino revenues increased 5.3% YoY "due to increases in hotel and food and beverage revenues, which were partially offset by lower retail and entertainment revenues."
- Cash and investments: $2.7BN
- Total debt: $5.8BN ($3.1BN at Wynn Las Vegas, $749MM at WYNN Macau and $1.9BN at the parent)
- "On July 31, 2012, Wynn Macau amended and restated its credit facilities and increased the availability under its bank facility to approximately $2.3 billion, consisting of an approximately $750 million term loan facility and an approximately $1.55 billion revolving credit facility."
- "On September 17, 2012, Wynn Las Vegas terminated its credit agreement."
- "In connection with amending the Wynn Macau credit facilities and the termination of the Wynn Las Vegas credit agreement, we expensed $19.7 million of deferred financing costs and third party fees"
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In 3Q12, WYNN "spent approximately $24.0 million on our Cotai Project."
