GGRAsia – Wynn Macau confirms hire of casino veteran Carruthers

Wynn Macau confirms hire of casino veteran Carruthers

Feb 03, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Ciaran Carruthers (pictured) – previously a senior executive with Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd – has been appointed chief operating officer of the Wynn Macau property on the city’s peninsula, casino firm Wynn Macau Ltd has confirmed to GGRAsia.

Mr Carruthers had previously served as senior vice president for property operations at Sands China. Before that, he served as president and chief executive of Asia Pacific Gaming Consultancy (Macau) Ltd, a firm providing research and consultancy services to the casino industry in the Asia Pacific region. Mr Carruthers had also been a senior executive with Macau casino company Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.

Wynn Macau Ltd said in a Thursday email: “Ciaran Carruthers has been appointed chief operating officer of Wynn Macau effective January 9, 2017. Mr Carruthers will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of our peninsula property and reports to Ian Michael Coughlan, president of Wynn Macau Ltd.”

GGRAsia understands from industry sources that Mr Carruthers’ appointment enables Mr Coughlan to focus on ramping up revenues at the recently-opened, US$4.4-billion Wynn Palace resort on Cotai. Mr Coughlan was named president of Wynn Macau Ltd in September last year, following the resignation of Gamal Abdelaziz as president and executive director of the company.

Analysts at Japanese brokerage Nomura and at Daiwa Securities Group Inc had said in recent notes on Wynn Macau’s fourth-quarter results, that – after a slow ramp up in the stub third quarter (Wynn Palace opened on August 22) – the new property had shown a marked improvement in earnings that looked set to carry over into the first quarter of this year.

Net revenues and adjusted property earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from Wynn Palace casino resort were US$418.7 million and US$77.5 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2016, according to company information.