Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in the first quarter 2022 earnings conference call of Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the call, we will conduct a question and answer session. Today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Jenny Kim, Senior Vice President, Group Treasurer of Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited.

Thank you, operator. Thank you for joining us today for our first quarter 2022 earnings call. On the call 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 laws. Our actual results could differ from our anticipated results. In addition, we may discuss non-GAAP measures. A definition and reconciliation of each of these measures to the most comparable GAAP 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 now turn the call over to Mr. Lawrence Ho.

Thank you, Jeannie. Our results for the first quarter of 2022 continue to reflect the impact of the COVID pandemic. We saw relatively solid performance across all of our segments over the Chinese New Year holiday period, but an increase in COVID cases in China and tighter border controls led to Macau GGR falling more than 50% from February to March 2022, and negatively impacted our results for the remainder of the first quarter. Discipline liquidity management remains a key area of focus. Total debt increased by $1.3 billion year-on-year as we increased available liquidity to support our operations and ongoing development projects. We will be prudent in managing our balance sheet and liquidity profile as we manage the business through this challenging environment. In the Philippines, we have been operating our casinos at 100% capacity since March 1st, when the COVID alert level was reduced to alert level 1. We're starting to see international travelers return. And in April, we saw daily volumes reach close to 80% of pre-COVID levels. Cyprus experienced a spike in COVID cases during the first quarter of 2022, which negatively impacted our operations. However, the situation has improved going into the second quarter with relaxation and COVID-related restrictions. In terms of our development program, in Macau, The construction of Studio City Phase 2 is progressing, and we continue our efforts to complete the construction by the deadline set in the land concession of December 27, 2022. In Cyprus, we're continuing construction with a target to open by year-end. However, we are encountering difficulties with our contractor who has struggled with meeting its labor resourcing plans and maintaining progress, leading to delays. We are actively dealing with these difficulties as we remain fully committed towards delivering Europe's first integrated resort in Cyprus. And lastly, we look forward to the finalization of the new gaming law and fully support the Macau government's initiatives in relation to the new legislation. We appreciate the Macau government's efforts to maintain a streamlined and transparent process. We are committed to participating in the upcoming public tender and remain confident in the pent-up demand for Macau as an international tourism destination once travel restrictions are relaxed further. With that, I turn the call over to Jeff.