GGRAsia – Wynn Macau Ltd says beat market Oct-Nov, seeks new notes

Wynn Macau Ltd says beat market Oct-Nov, seeks new notes

Dec 15, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino operator Wynn Macau Ltd says its daily average gross gaming revenue (GGR) for October and November outperformed the overall Macau market average by several percentage points for those months.

Daily average gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the firm’s Macau operations in October and November were approximately 31 percent of its GGR in the fourth quarter of 2019, it said. Market wide GGR in Macau during October and November this year was approximately 28.4 percent of that recorded in October and November 2019.

Such performance by Wynn Macau Ltd implied “modest share improvement relative to the fourth quarter 2019,” said a Monday note from Carlo Santarelli and Steven Pizzella at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

“We think this is important given the softness in [Macau] VIP and the perception that this high end softness will cause Wynn [Macau Ltd] to lose share,” added the analysts.

Market wide in October and November, Macau’s GGR was equal to nearly US$1.76 billion, compared to US$6.18 billion in October and November 2019.

Wynn Macau Ltd stated in a Monday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its daily expenses for October and November this year had been reduced by 23 percent, to US$2.3 million, compared to US$3 million in the same months last year. The firm runs Wynn Macau on the city’s peninsula, and Wynn Palace on Cotai.

It gave the news as it announced plans to issue an as-yet-unquantified amount of new senior notes to complement the US$600 million in 5.625 percent notes due in 2028 that were issued on August 26.

The new notes – with Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore branch, as the sole global coordinator – are likely to be listed in Hong Kong, and will only be available to professional investors.

Wynn Macau Ltd intends to use the net proceeds from the proposed offering for “repayment of a portion of the amounts outstanding under the Wynn Macau [Ltd] credit facilities”.

As of November 30, Wynn Macau Ltd and subsidiaries had unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of US$2.1 billion.

“In November 2020, we repaid US$25.1 million on the Wynn Macau [Ltd] revolver, and as a result, we had approximately US$25.1 million in available borrowing capacity as of 30 November 2020,” said the firm.

The company noted preliminary data on its October and November operating revenues pointed to a decline of at least 66.2 percent year on year, at US$258.0 million to US$262.0 million, compared to US$775.2 million for the same two months in 2019.

Wynn Macau Ltd said it anticipated adjusted property earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be at least 93.9 percent down year-on-year in October and November, at US$13.0 million to US$15 million, from US$244.8 million in the same two months of 2019.