Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Thank you for participating in the third quarter of 2020 earnings conference call of Melca Resorts and Entertainment Limited. At this time, all participants are missing only mode. After the call, we'll conduct a question and answer session. Today's conference is being recorded. And I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Richard Huang, Director of Investor Relations of Melca Resorts and Entertainment Limited.

Thank you for joining us today for our third quarter 2020 earnings call. On the call today are Lawrence Ho, Jeff Davis, Evan Winkler, and our property presidents in Macau, Manila, and Cyprus. Before we get started, please note that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provision of federal securities law. Our actual results could differ from our anticipated results. In addition, we may discuss non-GAAP measures. A definition and reconciliation of these measures to the most comparable gap financial measures are included in the earnings release. Finally, please note that our supplementary earnings slides are posted on our investor relations website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Lauren.

Thank you, Richard, and hello, everybody. During the third quarter, our integrated resorts experienced gradual recovery in business levels. helped by the resumption of the IBS visa issuance in Guangdong in late August and nationwide resumption of visa issuance in late September. Despite increased inbound visitation, thanks to the Macau and the mainland Chinese government's measured and prudent approach towards border reopening, we have not seen any new COVID cases after the relaxation of the travel restriction measures. Benefiting from the resumption of visa issuance, our Macau mass table games operation, which contributes vast majority of our EBITDA in pre-COVID times, saw notable sequential improvements from 2Q to 3Q. Business trends have also improved in the Philippines, with gaming and hospitality operations at City of Dreams Manila operating on a limited trial run basis as authorized by PACOR. In the middle of June, Operations at Cypress Casinos partially reopened. We saw a swift return of domestic gaming demand, which drove the return of our third quarter gaming revenues to approximately 75% of last year's levels. Looking ahead, while we're encouraged by the resumption of visa issuance and growing inbound visitation, ensuring the safety and well-being of our colleagues, customers, and the communities in which we operate remains our highest priority. We continue to expect a faster rebound and faster growth in the premium gaming segments, which benefit Melco's portfolio of luxury integrated resorts. To further strengthen our leadership in premium masks, we have made good use of the past few months to accelerate various upgrade projects at COD, with the fully renovated Nuwa Hotel Tower currently anticipated to reopen before the Chinese New Year. Despite COVID-19, Melco remains committed to its global development program. Our next major project in Macau will be Studio City Phase 2, where construction is going full steam ahead. Upon completion, the Phase 2 expansion will increase Studio City's hotel room inventory by approximately 60%, with two new hotel towers offering approximately 900 luxury hotel rooms and suites. Gaming space will be expanded, New non-gaming attractions will also be added, which includes a cineplex, one of the world's largest indoor-outdoor water parks, fine dining restaurants, and state-of-the-art MySpace. In Cyprus, we're making good progress with the development of City of Dreams Mediterranean, which, upon completion, will be Europe's largest integrated resort, offering over 100 gaming tables, 1,000 slot machines, and 500 hotel rooms. Turning to Japan, we remain unwavering in our commitment to bring to the country the world's leading IR. Our global team continues to monitor the process at a local and national level and engage with key stakeholders. We remain convinced that Japan represents the best potential new gaming market globally. At this time, we remain patient and we'll maintain our disciplined approach with respect to all development activities, including Japan. Last, while I expect demand recovery in Macau to be gradual, I remain confident in Macau's medium and long-term growth prospects. I believe Macau is still the most attractive integrated resort market in the world. Our balance sheet was also strengthened by our recent capital market transactions. enabling us to overcome near-term challenges while investing for the future. With that, I turn it over to Jeff to go through some of the numbers.