Investment bank UBS AG says it expects “foot traffic” in Macau and casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) “to improve meaningfully” in the latter part of December, as the city “heads into Christmas and New Year Eve” holidays.
Casino GGR in the first 10 days of December remained “steady”, with a run-rate of circa MOP520 million (US$64.6 million) a day, according to the institution’s own checks.
The daily tally “was down from about MOP535 million a day in November, partly dragged by the low VIP hold rate at 2.4 to 2.6 percent, versus the normal level of circa 2.85 percent,” suggested UBS.
In the first 10 days of December, the Macau casino industry’s performance “was dragged” by a number of factors, including “erosion” of earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin due to higher operational spending.
Macau’s hotel room rate in early December “has also become cheaper versus a month ago,” observed UBS.
“Of the 36 hotels that we tracked, the average hotel room rate for residence in the next seven days (12 to 18 December) tracked 4-percent lower than the pricing a month ago,” stated the bank.
But the institution noted: “It is important to highlight that such room rate discount has narrowed recently.”
JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd suggested in a recent note that it expected full-month casino GGR in Macau “to hit circa MOP17 billion” in December, “translating to about MOP550 million a day run-rate with a 100-percent-plus mass recovery.”
