Macau seems to have bounced back last week following a disappointing 1st half of the month. This past week posted average daily table revenues of $1.107 billion, up 43% over last year. Our guess is that hold played at least some role but we have no confirmation of that. We are upping our full month projection to HK$25.0-25.5 billion, up 6-8% YoY. While that growth rate is probably disappointing given the favorable calendar shift of Chinese New Year (CNY) into February this year, on the margin, it’s better than the flattish growth expected just one week ago.
Market shares have normalized somewhat with Wynn falling back to Earth and MPEL rebounding from low hold. With limited rooms MPEL also seemed to have spread some of its VIP and Direct Play business beyond just the CNY period. Consistent with a trend we foresee for the entire year, Sands China’s share continues to climb.
