TICKERS: LVS, MPEL, 880.HK, XHR, Airbnb, RCL, NCLH, CCL
EVENTS
August 11: 8:00am: IGT 2Q CC ; PW: 2521829
August 11: 4:30pm: STN 2Q CC
August 28: 10:00am: PENN - Meeting with Management at Plainridge Park
COMPANY NEWS
LVS - Insider Transaction: Robert Goldstein, the President & COO, unloaded 153,254 shares with an average market price of $56.50 for a total transaction sum of $8,658,85.
Takeaway: Not a lot of confidence exuded exude by the #2 guy at LVS. Big sale after a mini runup in the stock - still well off its 52 week high
MPEL - City of Dreams Manila, is said to have “suspended” 100 workers as a cost-cutting measure.
MPEL - MelcoLot Ltd, a Hong Kong-listed company controlled by MPEL co-chairman Lawrence Ho, says it expects a second-phase public tender for a casino resort near Barcelona, Spain, to start “shortly."
880.HK - Angela Leong On Kei, executive director of SJM Holdings Ltd., says the company has not considered more cost-cutting measures despite the city’s 14-month decline in gross gaming revenues. “For other gaming companies, I still cannot see it [more cost-cutting measures] being introduced,” Ms. Leong remarked yesterday.
XHR - Announced that it has agreed to acquire the Hotel Commonwealth in Boston, Massachusetts for a purchase price of $136 million. ($399K per key)
Airbnb - Quebec will be the first province in Canada to legalize and regulate Airbnb, starting this fall. The government will pursue tax revenue and increase the number of inspectors on the ground.
Takeaway: A nice win for Airbnb in Canada.
HLT - Today introduced Digital Key, an all-new feature of the Hilton HHonors app.
- Digital Key now gives frequent guests the option to bypass the hotel check-in counter and access their rooms, as well as any other area of the hotel that requires a key, directly via the Hilton HHonors app on their smartphones.
- By early 2016, HHonors members will be able to use their smartphones as their room key to enter more than 170,000 rooms at 250 U.S. properties within the Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts and Canopy by Hilton brands.
RCL - Details for Royal Suite Class
NLCH - Announced yesterday the launch of a secondary public offering of 20 million of its ordinary shares by certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC, Star NCLC Holdings Ltd. and certain funds affiliated with TPG Global, LLC. NCLH will not sell any ordinary shares in the offering and will not receive any of the proceeds from the offering. The offering is pricing at $59.25.
Takeaway: Their last offering in May was also for 20 million shares. Apollo, Star NCLC, and TPG have now reduced their ownership positions to 17.1%, 13.3%, and 2.3% respectively. We anticipate more secondaries in the future.
CCL - announced that its new social media Internet packages, which are now available on more than half of its ships, are scheduled to be implemented fleetwide by the first quarter of 2016.
- The packages offer access to a variety of popular websites for $5 per day.
- Additionally, the line’s new mobile app – currently available on Carnival Breeze and offering a new “chat” feature – has been well received, with a third of the ship’s guests actively using the app during their cruise, Carnival said.
- The app is expected to be available on five additional ships by the end of the year and be fleetwide by summer 2016.
- Currently available on 13 ships, Carnival’s enhanced Internet access offers increased bandwidth and speed, while the social media package provides unlimited access to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other popular sites for $5 per day, with discounted plans available for the entire cruise.
Takeaway: This upgrade is coming in a quarter ahead of schedule. This is a good response to RCL's Voom internet package.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Alaska Air-Quality Regulations - The violations were revealed Friday in Norwegian Cruise Line's quarterly Security and Exchange Commission filing. SEC filings filed July 31 also indicate that the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation cited Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises for similar alleged violations.
MACRO
China Loan/Deposit Growth - China July new yuan loans CNY1.48T vs consensus CNY750B and CNY1.28T in June
- Loan growth +15.5% y/y vs +13.4% in June
- Deposits +13.4% y/y vs +10.7% in June
- M0 +2.9% y/y vs +2.9% in June
- M1 +6.6% y/y vs +4.3% in June
- M2 +13.3% y/y vs consensus +11.8% and +11.8% in June
Singapore GDP - The Singapore economy grew by 1.8% on a YoY basis in 2Q 2015. Real GDP growth in 2015 is expected to be between 2.0% and 2.5%.