GGRAsia – S&P thinks Macau mass GGR 2023 to be near 90pct 2019

S&P thinks Macau mass GGR 2023 to be near 90pct 2019

Aug 07, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

S&P Global Ratings Inc says it now expects Macau’s mass-market gross gaming revenue (GGR) this year to be in the range of “85 percent to 90 percent” of 2019 levels, i.e., the last trading year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. That was up from a previous forecast of mass GGR recovering within a range of 75 percent to 85 percent of 2019-level.

“The mass-market recovery [market-wide in Macau] outpaced our prior expectation,” said S&P Global. The agency added: “We expect it to fully recover in 2024.”

JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd said in an August 1 note, after Macau’s July GGR result, that it estimated that July’s premium-mass segment recovery had been over 100 percent of pre-pandemic level.

Macau’s second-quarter GGR stood at MOP45.49 billion (US$5.66 billion), up 31.3 percent from MOP34.64 billion in the first three months of 2023, according to data published by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Burea. The latest quarterly result represented 62.0 percent of the MOP73.35 billion achieved in the comparable period of 2019.

The second-quarter overall mass GGR in the city stood at nearly MOP33.34 billion, which was equivalent to 86.1 percent of the comparable period in 2019. Mass-market baccarat GGR in that quarter was MOP26.68 billion; while the VIP baccarat GGR of the quarter was nearly MOP12.16 billion, a tally that was about 35 percent of the same period in 2019.

S&P Global said in a July 26 note it had raised its issuer credit ratings on Las Vegas Sands Corp and its subsidiaries, including the Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd, to ‘BBB-’ from ‘BB+’. The rating agency has also raised its issue-level rating on Sands China’s unsecured debt to ‘BBB-’ and affirmed its ‘BB+’ issue-level rating on Las Vegas Sands’ unsecured debt.

S&P Global said it expected Las Vegas Sands would end 2023 with leverage of about 2.7 times better than its previous forecast of 3 times, despite the “resumption of a modest dividend” and in line with its threshold for a notch-higher rating. The rating actions on Las Vegas Sands and its subsidiaries are based on the recovery of Macau’s GGR and the strong operating performance of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, S&P Global explained in the note.