MGM Resorts International

Good afternoon, and welcome to the MGM Resorts International first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Joining the call for the company today are Bill Hornbuckle, Chief Executive Officer and President, Corey Sanders, Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Hulkyard, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Kenneth Fang, Executive Director and President of MGM China Holdings, Hubert Wong, DOO and President of MGM China Holdings, and Andrew Chapman, Director of Investor Relations. Participants are in a listen-only mode. After the company's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. In fairness to all participants, we do ask that you please limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Andrew Chapman.

Good afternoon and welcome to the MGM Resorts International first quarter 2024 earnings call. This call is being broadcast live on the internet at investors.mgmresorts.com. We've also furnished our press release on Form 8K to the SEC. On this call, we'll make forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated in these statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements is contained to today's press release and in our periodic filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update these segments as a result of new information or otherwise. During the call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures when talking about our performance. You can find the reconciliation to GAAP financial measures in our press release and investor presentation, which are available on our website. Finally, this presentation is being recorded. I will now turn it over to Jonathan Altman.

Thanks, Andrew, and good afternoon. And thank you, everyone, for joining our call. We've decided to change our approach to these calls in the new year to give you a more focused recap of our results with additional color and commentary around our plans for the future. With that in mind, I'll start the call with a discussion of the quarter and our growth algorithm and then pass it over to Bill for his comments. As you saw from our press release, we delivered another record quarter across our company's consolidated businesses, generating record net revenues of $4.4 billion, up 13% from last year, net income of $217 million, and adjusted EBITDA of over $1.2 billion. During the quarter, cash provided by operating activities was $549 million, and free cash flow was $377 million. This includes MGM China's $215 million in cash flow from operating activities and $15 million in capital expenditures. In Las Vegas, we achieved 4% net revenue growth supported by strong ADRs, which were up 7% year over year. Our luxury resort offerings on the Strip served as a distinct competitive advantage, driving top line growth up 5% during the quarter. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, rate is pacing ahead of prior year for each of the remaining three quarters, and group rooms on the books are up year over year. In the regions, it's no surprise that our businesses were broadly impacted by poor winter weather in January. That said, we experienced a quick recovery in February and acceleration into March. This also will be the last quarter where we need to adjust for same-store results as Gold Strike closed in February of last year. In Macau, we lapped what was really the start of the recovery last year and achieved another record with net revenues up 71% year over year. MGM China earned its first ever $300 million quarter in adjusted property EBITDA, along with market share of 17%, surpassing the previous records set in the fourth quarter. Given the strength in MGM China's operating performance over the past 15 months, MGM China and MGM Resorts both agreed there's no longer a need for MGM to support its liquidity. And in March, the subordinated loan agreement was terminated. Further, their revolving credit facility has been nearly paid down and dividend payments have been resumed with approximately $94 million to be paid to MGM Resorts in the second quarter, all very encouraging. Aligned with our ongoing commitment to fortify our balance sheet and bolster liquidity, We recently completed the closing on the offering of $750 million of senior notes due 2032 at 6.5%. These proceeds were used to repay our 6.75% 2025 notes. Sarah Rogers and her team did an exceptional job, and the refinancing not only extends our liquidity profile, but reduces our interest expense annually. Finally, in Japan, along with our partner Oryx, our venture closed on the Japanese yen 530 billion yen project financing for MGM's Osaka Integrated Resort. This was the largest project financing ever in Japan and one of the most significant integrated resort financings globally. With this important milestone achieved, we'll continue to develop this soon-to-be iconic resort. We also bought back over $500 million of shares in the quarter, And as of yesterday, we've reduced our outstanding float to 313 million shares, 37% fewer than the start of 2021. I'll close with a summary of our financial growth algorithm. Our resort operations generate both significant and recurring cash flow. In 2023, cash provided by operating activities was 2.7 billion, and free cash flow was 1.8 billion. of which MGM China accounted for $830 million of net cash from operating activities and $45 million of capital expenditures. This implies around $1 billion of free cash flow domestically. We expect to see benefits soon from our digital business, with BetMGM beginning to generate significant free cash flow in the next couple of years and Leo Vegas beginning to generate returns from its investment period. This free cash flow generation will fund future growth and opportunities where I expect minimum mid-teens returns. This includes international digital expansion as well as brick and mortar development. In the longer term, we have an enviable pipeline of limited license development projects in New York, Japan, and potentially the United Arab Emirates, which will drive free cash flow growth over the next decade while also diversifying our geographic reach and earning sources. Any excess cash generated beyond these projects within the constraints of our financial policy will be returned to shareholders through share buybacks. Collectively, we see this algorithm as driving the compound annual growth rate of free cash flow per outstanding share to be the mid-teens through 2028, all while investing in the Japan Integrated Resort. Bill, over to you.

Thanks, Jonathan, and good afternoon and good evening, everybody. I am the color commentary that Johnson spoke to in his opening comment. And what I want to do and what I hope to do in the future on these is go through some top line thoughts as we think about the business and reiterate things that I think are important, obviously, in what happened in the quarter, but more importantly, from a go forward perspective. Obviously, when we use the word record first quarter, and if you look at and think about recent reporting, we're pretty excited and pretty pleased with that. It speaks to our diversity of our business and our four key pillars, Las Vegas, our regional properties, Macau, and we believe ultimately our digital business. We're obviously very excited and pleased by what's happened in China. Our EBITDA is up almost 80% and it's 140% over 2019 levels. So it speaks to that market. I think what we've been able to accomplish is In Las Vegas, our strength continues, particularly at the high end. We make roughly 75% to 80% of our adjusted property EBITDA. The idea of a luxury campus and being focused on the epicenter of activity here has paid off and we feel will continue to. And Marriott is off to a great start. We've booked approximately 75% over our expectations. And to date, we've booked over 140,000 room nights today. And the most surprising thing to date has been the group business. The activity case in that segment was a little unexpected. They do know a lot of folks that we didn't know, and we're quite pleased by that. And again, as I always start these, kudos to our team. Our net promoter scores have never been higher. We're holding these scores on margins that have delivered. You saw the margin this past quarter at 37% for Las Vegas. And so we're very excited by that. And I want to thank the team who is doing more with less and doing it better than they've ever done it. So thank you. As it relates to capital allocation, you've heard Jonathan talk about the credit facility. That's about $3.6 billion in Japan. That represents the largest private financing in Japan's history. And we've also been able to hedge about 60% of that project against what obviously has been a massively overinflated yen in our favor over the last couple of years. And so we're well into that positioning at 60% of that project hedged for the future. And obviously, we continue to leverage the balance sheet. You heard Jonathan say we've bought back 37% of the company, and we'll continue to do so where we see value. If I think about Las Vegas first, again, another strong quarter, principally driven by the high end. Although we did see some signs of fatigue at the lower end of the market, overall ADR was up 7% in the first quarter and expected to hold that range into the second, with increased occupancies looking at the second quarter and through the balance of the year. We're excited by the opening of connectivity between ourselves and Cosmopolitan. We finished the bridge that ties out Cosmopolitan, Vidara, and Bellagio. And next quarter, I'll talk to you more extensively about plans to do a similar thing in the front of Bellagio that will tie out the front end of the strip to the Cosmopolitan in creating what we truly hope is a luxury campus. The other thing that's obviously beginning to materialize, we saw the closure of the Tropicana and the advent of the age stadium is coming. And if you just take a moment and think about the positioning of us and all of these stadiums slash arenas between T-Mobile, Allegiant, and the new A Stadium, within a mile and really at the epicenter of our resorts, we have over a million seats a month that are accessible to some sport or entertainment activity and programming. We had suggested in prior calls that our convention business was returning, and it is and it has returned. most notably from tech. Our group forecast is up 6.5% for 2023, and our unit-a-day production is up 29% for all future dates. And I will tell you that Mandalay Bay in April just had one of its most successful months in its history, and so we're excited and pleased by the team and the work that they've done down there. Despite all of this, we've continued to maintain the margins. And I want to remind something on the wage. Obviously, the wage impact issue was almost 11% in Las Vegas, actually across the company, if I think about some of the individualized properties, but particularly across Las Vegas. Come June 1, that begins to cycle. And overall, if you recall what we did, we did a five-and-a-half-year deal with just over a 5% CAGR. And so those percentages now will begin starting in June, at least as an increase begin to fall. And then if you think about Las Vegas, maybe my final comment, Tropicana has closed. Obviously, the Mirage is pending and what may or may not happen there. But we don't see any new inventory for a considerable period of time. And obviously, we think that accretes favor will be to us and ultimately our current players. You heard Jonathan's comments on the regions, and I think you've heard from many others. The quarter started slow. There was bad weather, particularly in the north and the northeast. Detroit was particularly impacted by weather, by strike, and still a hangover from the cyber. But each month has gotten progressively better. And in March, we returned with 47% market share. And so we're pleased by where that business is going directionally, as well as the balance of our marginals. And Corey promised all of us a 30% margin. and we hit it. And so given the wage increases, I'm pleased with that team and excited by that as well. Macau, as you all know, for us in particular, but I think for the market, is simply booming. We continue to maintain, I think, an outside portion of share. We're at 17% for the quarter. Obviously, record EBITDA. We paid our first dividend since 2019. We heard this week about visa reform's And I think some of the regions are opening up without needing visas at all. And so I think that accretes all to visitation and obviously in all of our favors. And if we recall, the market's probably back at about an 80% rate. So we still see some uptick and some growth there. For us in particular, we're excited by some of the enhancements. We're adding new villas. MGM Macau and Suites in Kothai, because we are under-sweeted in that market. We have a new show that was announced. Johnny Moe, the producer of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is producing a show for us, which we're very excited about. And we have a world-class museum currently under construction at MGM Macau, which will begin to satisfy and speak to some of the cultural things that we promised the city and Macau in general that we do. And so overall, couldn't be more pleased with the team and the job. And I will make this comment. Margins there, you'll see, are 29% for the quarter. So despite the hyperbole about all of the promotional activity, particularly aimed at us, at 29%, I just query that and I challenge that. And frankly, if we had retail to the extent of someone like two of our competitors, we'd be in the low to mid 30s. And so I'm excited by what the team continues to do there. And obviously we expect and see, and as we've seen again in April, that to continue. Moving over digitally, there are some challenges. Obviously in North America, we are focused with BetMGM on our product and Angstrom integration. And we're working hard at that. We've launched single account, single wallet everywhere but Nevada, and you will see that come to fruition between now and football season. And Angstrom has now begun to give us additional parlay offerings and in-play betting for baseball and NBA, and we hope to bring that to fruition again with football this fall. So a lot of work to do there. We recognize the product deficiency, but I like the roadmap. I like the team. I like the focus, and I like where we're going. Outside of the U.S., Leo Vegas, particularly now in Sweden, has seen a return. There was a whole relicensing procedure there that cost everyone, including us, and that was their primary market. So Leo Vegas is on the rebound. BetMGM UK, which we spoke about last quarter, is doing exceptionally well. We've established a real presence there, and again, something we're excited by. And then yesterday saw the first soft launch of BetMGM in the Netherlands. And so the BetMGM brand will begin to extend itself throughout Leo Vegas' network and beyond. Overall, our digital strategy remains the same. At some point, we want to be self-sustaining with all site features, including producing our own games and our own product. Some of the initial work by Push we've mentioned before is doing exceptionally well, and we're excited by that. You'll see LiveDealer up and operating between now and the end of summer here in Las Vegas. Very excited to understand that and the value that that could ultimately bring our digital business. And the idea that we could do live dealing from Las Vegas and put it out into several global markets, I think is going to be interesting and fascinating for the business and a good brand builder of note. And we are also looking at to a Leo Vegas business, LatAm in South America, and some additional Eastern Europe countries for exposure and for expansion. On the development pipeline, we've talked about this, but now that we have financing in place, we put our consortium in place. Excited to be going forward with real construction. And we hope to be in the ground sometime next spring, summer, driving pylons. We still have an eye on a 2030 opening, and nothing is to dissuade that at this point. So we're excited by it. We're excited by the design, the development, and the fact that we've got this next most important phase behind us. And so we're pushing forward aggressively. You heard Jonathan talk about UAE. We have an eye on Abu Dhabi and Dubai as that unfolds. And so to the extent something becomes meaningful, obviously, We'll keep you all posted. I will say we're somewhat disappointed with the process in New York, but we have been. We've been there since I think 2015 or 16. We will remain patient and we will remain focused. And the good news here for us is we like our chances. The city of Yonkers has our full support behind us. And so we think that's meaningful as we come ultimately into the process that will entail. It sounds like next spring, if you will. And then like many others, we have an eye in Texas and Thailand. Time to tell what happens both in those two markets. Obviously, it's a government process. It's ongoing in both places. But we are there, and we are just trying to understand those opportunities for what they may ultimately bring to the company. In conclusion, you've heard me use this word in the past, and I think probably more than any other quarter it came through in this quarter, the word diversification of our products and diversification of our businesses. Obviously, Macau did a great deal of lift this quarter. Las Vegas held its own. The regionals are recovering, and the digital business has been fully funded, and we're looking forward to what it can do ultimately down the road.

So with all of that, I will turn this open to questions. We will now begin the question and answer session.

As a reminder, in all fairness, please limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. Our first question today comes from Joe Graff from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead with your question.

Good afternoon, everybody. Bill, the early experience with Marriott and bookings there, positive, obviously. Tony Capuano mentioned that this morning on Marriott's earnings conference call. I was hoping you could just talk a little bit about what you're seeing so far. I know it's early in terms of out-of-room spend with these bookings compared to maybe either the bookings they're displacing or with just MGM. And this is more of a specific Las Vegas Strip question. And then further to this, is it helping more on the high end? Is it potentially serving as a buffer on the low end? You obviously referenced low in fatigue, and your prepared comments.

John? Yeah, Joe, it's Jonathan. I'll offer a couple of observations. First, as you noted in the premise of the question, it is early. I mean, we're off to a great start with over 130,000 rooms booked. We've actualized over 50,000 of those so far. What we're seeing now is a higher premium than we had figured when we were going into this deal. breaks down between rate and the non-property spend. But between the two of those, right now it's around $150 higher than the rooms that we believe are being displaced by this occupancy. About $100 or so of that is on rate and about $50 premium on on-property spend. So that's all with the with the caveats around it being early, but that's what we're seeing. And I'll offer one comment that maybe Bill or Corey want to comment on the group side of this equation. And that is that it really is the leisure customers that we're displacing coming through other channels. But they are across all of the businesses, including our regional properties.

Yeah, and the properties, I mean, it's pretty, they're booking throughout the portfolio, probably Bellagio's leading, and we're actually seeing some pickup even in our legacy properties. In addition, the other area we're seeing some pretty nice pickup is Borgata. So we're very pleased with what we're seeing across the portfolio.

And as it relates to group, Joe, we've gotten tens of thousands of referrals. And the fascinating thing is we didn't know, and we thought we were pretty good at this. We have been historically. But we didn't know 80% of those referrals. And the vast majority of that business is going midstream. MGM has been, so far, again, it's very early, the biggest beneficiary of bookings into the group segment. And so, you know, we have 13 GSOs. They have 1,300, literally. So it's meaningful.

Great. Thank you for that. And then my follow-up question, maybe more geared towards Jonathan. About a month ago, there was – news reports of potential efforts to divest certain regional assets. Obviously, if there was something to update us on, you would update us in a press release. But more my question is about the strategic thinking in terms of how you go about and maybe thinking about pruning the portfolio domestically and what are the certain characteristics or considerations that you think about when thinking about this?

Sure. I appreciate the question. Clearly, we can't comment on anything like those reports you referenced. But look, we're always looking at the portfolio and to understand how it fits in overall with us strategically. Things that are very important include market positioning in markets that we believe have strong potential for growth. Overall scale, because this is a business where most of our properties, including our regional properties, are doing north of $200 million annually. So scale matters. And then finally, the way in which all of our properties interact with the whole importation of business into Las Vegas, the linkage with our digital businesses, et cetera. But those are the general... lenses through which we look at the portfolio and how they fit in with the strategy.

And John, I only add one other thing. And those properties that demonstrate beyond just organic growth, the real growth potential at some point for various, each property is a little different, so for various reasons.

But if they don't demonstrate that, then we have potentially a different view. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Sean Kelly from Bank of America. Please go ahead with your question.

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I was hoping we could maybe just drill in on digital a little bit, so maybe one specific and then one strategic. The specific question would just be, can you help us think about the loss cadence? I think we've been very clear here that 2024 would be an investment year again. So, just help us think about how some of those investments may play throughout, and is there some additional marketing you know, especially in the second half as you get the product to, I think, where you want and the Angstrom integrations kind of done. And then maybe the strategic question, just to hit it all at once, would be, you know, big picture here, you know, kind of what more would you look for in digital? You know, are there some things on the technology side and or is it more of the market expansion side, you know, that you're kind of looking to expand upon, you know, digitally?

I'll take that first part of that. So, When it comes to BetMGM, if you will, I think your comments are pretty relative and spot on. We want to see the product development as it comes out throughout the balance of the year. I think the idea, we've all talked about the idea of leaning in if we think we're where we need to be and want to be by end of year, particularly through football and beyond. Obviously, for the first quarter, I think digital for all of us was a little rough. Nobody won a Super Bowl bet. No one seemed to win a March Madness bet. We're not alone in that. Um, but all that said, I think the plan that we had put forward in discussions to date, you can hold true on, um, you know, as it relates to longer, uh, there are obviously particularly with things like Angstrom and product deliverable, there's a lot to be done that can be done. You know, we're pushing 40 odd States in terms of sports betting. Obviously I gaming is the real opportunity over time. You know, arguably we're all in six. I think we operate in five and three that really make a difference. Um, And so there's huge upside to that potential. And we continue to try to push for that each and every day. You know, if you think about then the digital side of our other business, meaning the Leo Vegas business, it is about the extension of BetMGM's brand and what it could mean in certain established markets. And the focus on places like South America of note and LATAM, we see long term growth. real growth potential there if we can get ourselves established in the proper regulated markets. And so none of that happens overnight, as you know, but like what we've done in terms of positioning, like the products that we have and the foundation we've built, particularly there and some of the things we're about to add going down the road there to stabilize that business and to own all of that business.

And so we're excited by that.

Thank you very much.

Our next question comes from Carlos Santorelli from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead with your question.

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Jonathan, just doubling back to some of your comments earlier in the call. Obviously, good ADR growth in first quarter, rates pacing up for each subsequent quarter, group pacing well. Obviously, as Bill mentioned, we lapped the big headwind with the union contract incremental expenses. As you guys... Think about the rest of the year and all the puts and takes, be it hold comparisons from last year, easy, hard, et cetera, events last year, although that should pretty much normalize right now. And the book of business that you currently have with kind of some of the known expenses and where they're going, obviously going up, but less heartily as they have been. Do you look at the outlook for the rest of this year and believe there's potential for Vegas Strip EBITDA to grow as you work through the year?

Yes, is the simple answer. As we... You know, as we look not only to the leading indicators that we have in our book of business, but also the initiatives that we have underway. And yes, we are confident that we can grow EBITDA in Las Vegas this year.

Okay, great. And then if I could just, I know you guys tightened up some of the slide deck materials and stuff. Actually, it's Very user-friendly. Will the Hong Kong filing provide much of the same material that it provided historically on the MGM China piece of the business for modeling purposes? Yes, it will. It will. Okay. And will that be out at some point this evening?

Yeah, in about 30 minutes, I'm told. Perfect.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Our next question comes from David Katz from Jefferies. Please go ahead with your question.

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to follow on in the digital train of thought. And when we last spoke publicly, there were notions about potential further tuck-ins. and some potentially of some meaningful size and continuing to grow that business through some acquisitions. I'm not sure that you touched on that today. I just wanted to get a sense for what that thinking might be.

I didn't on purpose. There are some contemplated tuck-ins coming down the road, but for now I'm just going to leave it at that. I think we've stated, I stated on the earlier call, we're anxious to see solidify something in sports. We like content businesses. We're anxious to get into the live dealer business. And so none of that's changed. And so I think you'll see us over the course of time here do things that will further solidify that strategy and get us deeper into those objectives.

Okay, fair enough. And if I can just follow up on BetMGM, there's You know, a lot of your sort of commentary and vision for BetMGM has, you know, progressed appropriately, but in a steady way where, you know, from afar, it seems like there's a lot of fluidity on your partner's side. And my question is, you know, has there been, you know, any near-term sort of positive change in sort of how they're approaching the business, executing on the business, etc.? ? beyond what you mentioned in some of your prepared remarks?

Yes. Look, I think Stella, their new CEO, is the breath of fresh air. She's been extremely transparent. She took Adam Greenblatt, our CEO of BetMGM, to India to get under the covers, to meet with the design development team. She had him speak at a town hall about the importance of BetMGM and all that mattered. And so we're excited by that. We think it's movement in the right direction, and it's something that, frankly, heretofore hadn't happened. And so that's all affirmative and positive. Everyone's agreeing to the roadmap. It's an extensive roadmap on product development, and it's going to take some time, energy, and some investment, particularly on Entain's behalf, and they're fully supportive of that. And so, yeah, I think things have changed, and I think for the much better.

Understood.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Our next question comes from Brant Montour from Barclays. Please go ahead with your question.

Good evening, everybody. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. Thank you. So first question is on Las Vegas. You know, maybe you could reconcile or help us reconcile the slot volume trends that you saw in the quarter versus the really strong room rates. And I guess what I'm asking is, is there any sort of behavioral shift for customer trend shift going on under the surface and what's driving that? Can you talk about the trade-off between those two factors and how much control you have over that shift?

Yeah, I'll start, John, if you want to add in. You know, in the quarter, our convention mix was up, but also with the Marriott integration, we definitely strategically looked at reducing our lower end of that casino base. And so we believe that we got the revenue back in the hotel and in the convention base for the lost revenue on the slot side there.

That's a great answer. And my second question is on MGM China. And, Bill, you touched on the competitive environment there. Your market share in January was well documented to be high, but your average – from the mass table market share over the quarter was obviously lower. It implies a lower exit rate. I'm just curious if you want to double back on the January market share and maybe talk about what happened there and was it, I guess it wasn't permanent, of course, and how much of it was hold, but what can you say about exit rate on market share heading into the second quarter?

Let me deflect to Kenny and or Hubert here. I think most of it was tied to hold in January, but gentlemen, correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, you were right. And we also had some like VIP place in January, so that was a major reason that we reached 20% market share in January. But definitely our goal is in meeting, as we always said in our previous calls.

The exit market share rate for March was 16.8%. And we're pretty much stable on that front. And we see a little higher number in April around that.