GGRAsia – MGM China record 20pct Macau share in Jan: Hornbuckle

MGM China record 20pct Macau share in Jan: Hornbuckle

Feb 15, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

MGM China Holdings Ltd “broke through 20 percent” market share in January for Macau casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) after a 16 percent share in the fourth quarter, said on Tuesday the boss of its majority owner, United States-based MGM Resorts International.

The parent had stated in a filing relayed by MGM China to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that MGM China recorded fourth-quarter revenue of nearly HKD7.68 billion (US$982 million), and total adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of HKD2.20 billion.

MGM China’s 2023 total revenue grew to HKD24.68 billion, an increase of 368.5 percent on 2022, and 108.4 percent of pre-pandemic trading year 2019’s HKD22.77 billion.

“Macau is doing amazingly well. I know some of our competitors are wondering what we’re doing,” stated Bill Hornbuckle, chief executive and president of MGM Resorts during the parent’s latest fourth-quarter earnings call.

He added, referring to Kenneth Feng, president and executive director of MGM China, which runs MGM Macau on the city’s peninsula, and MGM Cotai (pictured), in the newer casino district: “Kenny and the team broke through 20 percent in the month of January for market share.”

Mr Hornbuckle further stated: “I’m not suggesting that’s sustainable, but I will tell you, I think we have repositioned those two properties and we’re prepared to compete on an equal basis with anybody in the marketplace.”

Analyst John DeCree of CBRE Equity Research, said of MGM China in a Wednesday note regarding the group results: “The company’s market share exceeded 16 percent in fourth-quarter 2023 and hit 20 percent in January 2024, likely due to some favourable hold.”

Though he added: “Mid-to-high teens is the target market share for MGM with margins in the high-20 percent range, which points to meaningful EBITDA growth on the horizon.”

On the call Mr Hornbuckle had noted: “In Macau, we ended 2023 with an all-time record adjusted EBITDAR [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation and rent] for the quarter and the full year.”

Mr Feng stated on the call that the fourth quarter had been “a record high in MGM China’s history”.

He added: “We are happy to see our January performance has continued to grow. So actually, our January performance has exceeded even October levels across all segments, including EBITDA and market share.”

Mr Feng said that so far in the eight-day Chinese New Year holiday, which runs until Saturday, for the two MGM China properties combined, “the visitation, the player count, the table drop, the slot handle as well as VIP turnover have all well exceeded 2019 same period levels”. He added: “So we are confident and we are optimistic with the Chinese New Year as well as the rest of this quarter.”

MGM China said in a separate press release that it had market share of 15.2 percent for full-year 2023, up from 9.5 percent in the pre-pandemic trading year of 2019. It stated that MGM Cotai’s market share was 8.6 percent, and that the older property MGM Macau’s was 6.6 percent.

Mr Hornbuckle also gave a brief comment on the MGM Osaka project in Japan for an integrated resort (IR) with casino – that nation’s first foray into the casino business.

He stated, referring to ground-preparation work: “In Osaka, we successfully began liquefaction countermeasures in the fourth quarter, maintaining our trajectory to commence preparatory construction efforts in 2025 on time for 2030 opening.”