Q1 2024 Wynn Resorts Ltd Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Brian Gullbrants; President of Encore Boston Harbor; Wynn Macau, Limited

Craig Scott Billings; CEO & Director; Wynn Resorts, Limited

Julie Mireille Cameron-Doe; CFO; Wynn Resorts, Limited

Benjamin Nicolas Chaiken; Executive Director; Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division

Carlo Santarelli; Research Analyst; Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Daniel Brian Politzer; Senior Equity Analyst; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

David Brian Katz; MD and Senior Equity Analyst of Gaming, Lodging & Leisure; Jefferies LLC, Research Division

John G. DeCree; Director and Head of North America Equity & High Yield Research; CBRE Securities, LLC, Research Division

Joseph Richard Greff; MD; JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division

Robin Margaret Farley; MD and Research Analyst; UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Shaun Clisby Kelley; MD in Americas Equity Research & Research Analyst; BofA Securities, Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Welcome to the Wynn Resorts First Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.
I will now turn the line over to Julie Cameron-Doe, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Julie Mireille Cameron-Doe

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. On the call with me today are Craig Billings and Brian Gullbrants in Las Vegas. Also on the line are Linda Chen, Frederic Luvisutto and Jenny Holaday.
I want to remind you that we may make forward-looking statements under safe harbor federal securities laws, and those statements may or may not come true.
I will now turn the call over to Craig Billings.

Craig Scott Billings

Thanks, Julie. Good afternoon, everyone, as always. Thanks for joining us today.
The momentum that we generated in the business throughout 2023 continued into 2024 as we delivered all-time record property EBITDAR of $647 million during the first quarter of 2024. I'm incredibly proud of all of our team members who remain so focused on delivering 5-star service and one-of-a-kind experiences to our guests. A heartfelt thank you to each of you.
Turning to the quarter and starting here in Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas delivered $246 million of adjusted property EBITDAR, a first quarter record and up 6% year-on-year on a very difficult comp. As we noted on our last call, most of the action in the quarter was concentrated in February as the combination of Super Bowl and Chinese New Year drove all-time record EBITDAR during the month.
Quarter was characterized by strong performance across our nongaming businesses with revenue growing 16% year-on-year, led by 21% growth in hotel revenue along with healthy volumes in the casino. Through our unique combination of the best service levels in the market, continuous reinvestment in our property and our Only at Wynn programming, we continue to fire on all cylinders here in Las Vegas. More recently, our top line trends remained healthy in April with drop, handle and RevPAR all up year-over-year on yet another difficult comp.
Turning to Boston. Encore generated $63 million of EBITDAR during the quarter. The team in Boston successfully navigated a confluence of poor weather in January and inflationary pressures during the quarter as EBITDAR and revenue at the property were largely stable year-on-year. There were encouraging pockets of strength in the quarter with record slot handle and strong year-on-year growth in hotel revenue. More recently, demand has remained healthy through April with particular strength in slot handle and RevPAR.
On the development across from Encore Boston Harbor, we have put this development on hold for the time being as we have been unable to reach an agreement with local authorities on certain financial terms. Though it's disappointing, we have numerous other development projects globally where we can redirect the capital we intended to deploy in Boston.
Turning to Macau. We generated $340 million of EBITDAR in the quarter on GGR market share that was above both the prior quarter and above our 2019 exit. We held above our expected range. So on a fully normalized basis, EBITDAR would have been approximately $320 million. The strength in our business has continued into Q2. In the casino, our mass drop per day in April increased 30% versus April 2019. And on the nongaming side, our hotel occupancy was 99%.
Overall, strong top line performance, combined with disciplined OpEx control drove healthy margins during April. We were also pleased with the results during May Golden Week, particularly in light of unfavorable weather in the region.
In the casino, mass drop per day increased 30% versus the comparable 2019 holiday period and approach levels seen during last Chinese New Year.
On the development front in Macau, we began initial demolition and construction work on our second concession-related project, our destination food hall. We are well into design and planning for our other major concession-related CapEx commitments, including our new events and entertainment center and a unique theater and showroom.
Turning to Wynn Al Marjan in the UAE. Construction is rapidly advancing on the project. And as of this week, we are currently constructing the fourth floor of the hotel tower. You can find recent renderings and images of Wynn Al Marjan in a press release we issued yesterday ahead of a major travel convention taking place this week in Dubai. And I expect we will further update you on the advances we have made on the project later this year.
Finally, we are actively considering greenfield development opportunities in New York City and potentially Thailand. In New York, we believe a full-scale Wynn integrated resort in Hudson Yards will drive meaningful incremental tax revenue, tourism and employment in the state. Despite the elongation of the RFA submission process in New York, we remain intrigued by the prospect of a Wynn resort in Manhattan.
In Thailand, it's early days, and we have yet to see the regulatory and licensing structures. Thailand is already a major tourism destination with significant tourism infrastructure and a world-class service culture so we will continue to closely monitor advancement of the legalization process.
I remain incredibly bullish about the future of our company. In Las Vegas, we remain at the pinnacle of the market with tremendous demand for what we offer. And in an inflationary environment like this, we have the luxury of being able to reprice our hotel rooms every day in order to take advantage of that demand.
In Macau, we continue to punch above our weight on a revenue per hotel room basis generating meaningful market share and substantial discretionary free cash flow. We also have a meaningful high-ROI project underway in the UAE along with potential greenfield developments in other attractive gateway cities.
Meanwhile, our leverage profile continues to improve as does our outlook on future free cash flow. Our best days lie ahead.
With that, I will now turn it over to Julie to run through some additional details on the quarter. Julie?