Q3 2023 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

Brandt Antoine Montour; Research Analyst; Barclays Bank PLC, 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

Stephen White Grambling; Equity Analyst; Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Welcome to the Wynn Resorts Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions).
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, Brian Gullbrants and Steve Weitman 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, and as always, thank you for joining us today.
I'll start here in Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas delivered $220 million of adjusted property [EBITDAR] up 12% on incredibly difficult year-over-year comp. Yes, it was aided by high hold, but it was also despite the fact that we accrued during the quarter for the estimated increases associated with the new agreement with Culinary Union. I got to tell you, activity at the property was frenetic during the quarter, with hotel occupancy, restaurant covers casino visitation, table drop and slot handle all up over what was a very strong third quarter of 2022.
As a result of all that activity, we produced third quarter records in gross gaming revenue, food and beverage revenue and hotel revenue with 10% year-over-year growth in RevPAR. We continue to be at the top of our game here in Las Vegas, and I'm incredibly proud of the team who continue to deliver to our exacting standards even in the midst of significant customer volumes. Our top line trends remained strong through October with healthy GGR and strong year-over-year RevPAR growth during the month.
Looking ahead, we have a strong pipeline of forward group demand, very healthy gaming market share and a robust programming calendar with F1 and Super Bowl just ahead of us. And while it certainly is an increasingly complex world out there between inflation, rates, geopolitics, things continue to feel pretty good around here.
Turning to Boston. Encore generated $60 million of EBITDAR during the quarter. Business at the property was largely stable year-on-year with revenue and EBITDAR down about 1%, though there were some meaningful pockets of strength, including all-time property records for slot handle and hotel revenue. More recently, we were encouraged by the acceleration in the business we experienced during October with month-over-month growth in slot handle and table drop and strong RevPAR growth year-over-year. We will continue to closely monitor the ongoing Sumner Tunnel construction, which is expected to continue in fits and starts over the next 12 months, along with the general macroeconomic uncertainty that seems to have been impacting some of the regional gaming operators.
On the development across the street from Encore Boston Harbor, we have been asked by a state environmental agency to provide yet another round of analysis and documentation delaying our construction by approximately 3 months. We will continue to update you on this project, which will add meaningful amenities and EBITDAR to Encore Boston Harbor.
Turning to Macau, we generated $255 million of EBITDAR in the quarter, which was 85% of our pre-COVID levels. Hold was mixed in the quarter as we held high in our VIP business, which was more than offset by low hold on the mass table side. With mass now comprising the vast majority of our business, we are going to start normalizing for both VIP and mass.
To that end, we estimate fully normalized EBITDAR in the quarter was $266 million or 87% of the third quarter of 2019 levels. Encouragingly, mass hold returned to the expected range at both properties in October. During the quarter, we saw broad-based strength across our properties with several key areas of the business trending well above 2019 levels.
In the casino, mass table drop increased 19% versus Q3 2019 and direct VIP turnover was 13% above Q3 2019. On the non-gaming side, our retail business continues to be incredibly strong with tenant retail sales up 24% on Q3 2019, and hotel revenue up 20% relative to the third quarter of 2019. Quality of our product and service, our relaunch Wynn Rewards loyalty program and our very robust non-gaming events calendar all helped to drive GGR market share in the quarter that was consistent with second quarter and in line with our share as we exited 2019. The strength in our business has continued in Q4 with mass drop in October 24% above October 2019, 98% hotel occupancy and healthy tenant retail sales.
On the development front in Macau, we expect our concession-related capital project, a collaboration with the team behind Las Vegas-based Aluminarium on a mesmerizing multimedia exhibit space to open before the end of the year. We're also deep into design and planning for our other concession-related CapEx commitments, including our destination food hall the new event and entertainment center and a unique spectacle show. Lastly, construction continues on Wynn Al Marjan Island, our planned integrated resort in the UAE.
Much of the hotel tower foundation is complete with nearly all of the piles supporting the 1,500 room tower in the ground. On the back of several recent regulatory developments in the UAE, I've noticed increased chatter about the opportunities there. So I want to take a moment and give you our perspective. We believe it's highly unlikely that every Emirate will ultimately avail themselves of the right to host an integrated resource. There's a whole bunch of reasons for this, ranging from cultural nuances to population density to varying degrees of need for the additional visitation.
Our view is that it will likely be us and us alone for a multiyear period, given that we are well underway on construction now. And of course, we all know the advantages of being first as we have seen in other markets. After that, it may be a duopoly or an oligopoly of 3. But I find either ultimate market structure undaunting, given the database advantages of being first and the fact that we very successfully operate in the 2 most competitive markets in the world, Vegas and Macau. As I've said before, this is the most exciting new market opening in decades.
With that, I'll now turn it over to Julie to run through some additional details on the quarter.