October Ends with a Bang in Macau

Sat, Nov 4, 2017

Following a sluggish start to Golden Week, Macau saw a rally in the final 10 days of October, prompting analysts to kick up their revenue estimates for the month. Nomura expects a spike of up to 21 percent. Wynn Palace (l.) helped its parent company post a profit of $90 million in the third quarter.

“Strong demand” in all segments

Macau’s gaming industry may be looking at some healthy numbers for October, reports CNBC. According to the news outlet, a Nomura report said a “noticeable pickup in demand” in Macau’s VIP and mass-market gaming revenue in the last 10 days of the month caused it to raise its GGR estimate to show an increase of 19 percent to 21 percent for the period. A Consensus Metrix survey showed Wall Street had projected a 15.9 percent increase year-on-year.

GGR in the jurisdiction was up 16.1 percent year-on-year growth in September.

“Post-Golden Week demand this year has trended much better than expected,” Nomura said of the weeklong national holiday that kicks off October. The rally took place “following the 19th Party Congress in China, with VIP and mass revenue up about 30 percent and 9 percent year-over-year, respectively,” Nomura analyst Harry Curtis said in a November 1 note.

“The final week of October indicated that the VIP and premium mass segments both benefited from strong demand,” agreed Ben Lee of Asian gaming consultancy IGamiX. “The absence of any telegraphing of intentions to further crack down on gaming has probably alleviated the anxiety of Chinese VIPs in relation to gaming activities.”

Not everyone was smiling, however. The South China Morning Post reported that SJM Holdings posted a net profit of HK$428 million (US$54.8 million) for the quarter, missing the HK$496.5 million estimate by analysts polled by Bloomberg. The net profit for the nine months that ended in September was down 14.1 percent to HK$1.38 billion.

VIP play was up 7.4 percent to HK$4.73 billion in the quarter, but revenue from mass market gaming and slots dropped 4.6 percent and 7.7 percent to HK$5.04 billion and HK$251 million respectively compared to the same period in 2016.

SJM could be buoyed by the opening of its HK$36 billion Grand Lisboa Palace, the last of the megaresorts going up on the Cotai Strip. The property is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Wynn Macau Limited reported net profit of $90 million in the third quarter, driven by Wynn Palace, reported the Asia Gaming Brief. Total operating revenue reached $1.2 billion in the three months to September 30, up from $682.7 million in 2016.