Wynn Resorts Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
November 9, 2023

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to the Wynn Resorts Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. All participants are in a listen only mode into the question and answer session of today's conference. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.

Operator

I will now turn the line over to Julie Cameron Do, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. On the call with Today are Craig Billings, Brian Gulbrandt and Steve Whiteman in Las Vegas. Also on the line are Linda Chen, Frederick Nubisuto and Jenny Holliday. I want to remind you that we may make forward looking statements under Safe Harbor Federal Securities Laws and those statements may or may not come true. I will now turn the call over to Craig Billings.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Julie. Afternoon, everyone, and as always, thank you for joining us today. I'll start here in Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas delivered $220,000,000 of adjusted property EBITDA, up 12% on an incredibly difficult year over year comp. Yes, it was aided by high hold, but it was also despite the fact that we accrued during the quarter for the estimated increases associated with the new agreement with the Culinary I got to tell you activity at the property was frenetic during the quarter with hotel occupancy, restaurant covers, casino Table drop and slot handle all up over what was a very strong Q3 of 2022.

Speaker 2

As a result of all that activity, we produced 3rd quarter records in gross gaming revenue, food and beverage revenue and hotel revenue with 10% year over year We continue to be at the top of our game here in Las Vegas and I'm incredibly proud of the team who continue to deliver to our Exacting standards even in the midst of significant customer volumes. Our top line trends remained strong through October with healthy GGR and strong year over year RevPAR growth during the month. Looking ahead, we have a strong pipeline of forward group demand, Very healthy gaming market share and a robust programming calendar with F1 and Super Bowl just ahead of us. And while it certainly is an increasingly complex world out there between inflation, rates, geopolitics, things continue to feel pretty good around here. Turning to Boston, Oncor generated $60,000,000 of EBITDAR during the quarter.

Speaker 2

Business at the property was largely stable year on year with revenue and EBITDA down about The acceleration in the business we experienced during October with month over month growth in slot handle and table drop and strong RevPAR growth year over year. We will continue to closely monitor the ongoing Sumner tunnel construction, which is expected to continue in fits and starts over the next 12 months, along with the general macroeconomic uncertainty that seems to have been impacting some of the regional gaming operators. On the development across the street from Encore Boston Harbor, we have been asked by a state environmental agency to provide yet another round of analysis and documentation, delaying our construction by approximately 3 months. We will continue to update you on this project, which will add meaningful amenities and EBITDA to Encore Boston Harbor. Turning to Macau, we generated $255,000,000 of EBITDA in the quarter, which was 85% of our pre COVID levels.

Speaker 2

Hold was mixed in the quarter as we held high in our VIP business, which was more than offset by low hold on the mass table side. With mass now Comprising the vast majority of our business, we are going to start normalizing for both VIP and mass. To that end, we estimate fully normalized Encouragingly, Masshold returned to the expected range at both properties in October. During the quarter, we saw broad based On the non gaming side, our retail business continues to be incredibly strong with tenant retail sales up 24% on Q3 2019 and hotel revenue up 20% relative to the Q3 of 2019. Quality of our product and service, consistent with Q2 and in line with our share as we exited 2019.

Speaker 2

The strength in our business has continued in Q4 with mass drop in October 24% above October 2019, 98% hotel occupancy and healthy tenant retail sales. On the development front in Macau, we expect our 1st concession related capital project, a collaboration with the team behind Las Vegas based Illuminarium on a mesmerizing multimedia exhibit space to open before the end of the year. We're also deep into design and planning for our Lastly, construction continues on Wynn Al Marjan Island, our planned integrated resort in the UAE. Much of the hotel tower foundation is complete with nearly all of the piles supporting the 1500 Room Tower in the ground. On the back of several recent regulatory developments in I've noticed increased chatter about the opportunities there.

Speaker 2

So I want to take a moment and give you our perspective. We believe it's highly unlikely that every Emorett will ultimately avail themselves of the right to host an integrated resort. There's a whole bunch of reasons Ranging from cultural nuances to population density to varying degrees of need for the additional visitation. Our view is that it will likely be us and us alone for a multiyear period given that we are well underway on construction now. And of course, we all know the advantages of being first as we have seen in other markets.

Speaker 2

After that, it may be a duopoly or an oligopoly of 3. But I find either ultimate market structure undaunting given the database advantages of being first and the fact that we very successfully operate in the 2 most competitive markets to run through some additional details on the quarter.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Craig. At Wynn Las Vegas, we generated $219,700,000 in adjusted property EBITDA on $619,000,000 of operating revenue during the quarter, delivering an EBITDA margin of 35.5 Higher than normal hold benefited EBITDA by around $12,000,000 in Q3 and hold normalized adjusted property EBITDA was up slightly year over year. The strength in the quarter was broad based across the business. Hotel revenue increased 10% year over year to 170 point $5,000,000 a new 3rd quarter record on the back of a 9% increase in ADR and 120 basis point increase in occupancy. Our other non gaming businesses were strong across food and beverage, entertainment and retail, all up nicely year on year.

Speaker 1

In the casino, our GGR increased around 22% year over year, driven by a 7.6% year over increase in slot handle and a 6.5% increase in table drop along with higher table games hold. OpEx excluding gaming tax per day was $4,100,000 Q3 2023, up 14% year over year due to variable costs associated with revenue increases, roughly $10,000,000 of non recurring items and certain structural changes including an accrual for the anticipated increases associated with a new union contract, our annual cost of

Speaker 3

living adjustment for non union employees and

Speaker 1

the launch of our production show. For nonunion employees and the launch of our production show. Turning to Boston, we generated adjusted property EBITDA of 60.5 $1,000,000 on revenue of $210,400,000 both down around 1% year on year. EBITDA margin was 28.8%, broadly in line with Q3 2022. As Craig noted, business was largely stable year on year.

Speaker 1

In the casino, we generated $182,600,000 of GGR, down 1% year on year Our record slot handle was offset by lower table game volume. Our non gaming revenue was flat year over year at $54,400,000 with record hotel revenue offset by lower food and beverage revenue. As noted on our prior call and as Craig mentioned earlier, Business volumes at the property were impacted by the Sumner Tunnel Restoration Project, which is expected to continue intermittently over the next 12 months or so. While the tunnel construction is out of our control, we have stayed very disciplined on the cost side with OpEx excluding gaming tax of Approximately $1,130,000 per day in Q3 2023, down 0.5% year over year and down around 2% sequentially. The team has done a great job mitigating union related payroll increases with cost efficiencies in areas of the business that do not impact the guest experience.

Speaker 1

Our Macao operations delivered adjusted property EBITDA of $255,000,000 in the quarter on $819,800,000 of operating revenue. We estimate lower than normal hold negatively impacted EBITDA by around $11,000,000 during the quarter With higher than normal hold at Wynn Palace more than offset by lower than normal hold at Wynn Macau, we saw particular strength in mass casino drop, Direct VIP turnover, luxury retail sales and hotel revenue, all above Q3 2019 levels. EBITDA margin was 1.1% in the quarter, an increase of 300 basis points relative to Q3 2019 with Wynn Palace's margin reaching 33.7% was 6.60 basis points above Q3 2019 levels. Our concession related non gaming programming have accelerated over the past few months with the and culinary events. EBITDA margin strength was driven by a combination of the favorable mix shift to higher margin mass gaming and operating leverage on cost efficiencies.

Speaker 1

Our OpEx excluding gaming tax was approximately $2,400,000 per day in Q3, a decrease of 20% compared to 3 in Q3 2019. The team has done a great job remaining disciplined on costs and we are well positioned to continue to In terms of CapEx, we are currently advancing through the design and planning stages on our concession commitments. And as we noted the past few quarters, these projects require a number of government approvals, creating a wide range of potential CapEx in the very near term. As such, We expect CapEx related to our concession commitments to range between $300,000,000 $400,000,000 in total between Q4 2023 And the end of 2024. Turning to Wynn Interactive, you'll recall we announced in August that we decided to rationalize the business to primarily focused on Massachusetts and Nevada where we have a physical presence.

Speaker 1

As a result, our EBITDA burn rate decreased substantially both sequentially and year over year to $4,900,000 in Q3 2023. Moving on to the balance sheet. Our liquidity position remains very strong with global cash and revolver availability of approximately $4,300,000,000 as of September 30. This was comprised of $1,800,000,000 of total cash and available liquidity in Macau and $2,500,000,000 in the U. S.

Speaker 1

Importantly, the combination of strong performance in each of our markets globally with our properties run rating over 2.1 and free cash flow profile for the company globally. To that end, we repurchased $400,000,000 of our 2025 Wynn Las Vegas senior notes at a discount of par during the quarter. Further, the Board approved a cash dividend of $0.25 per share payable on November to stockholders of record as of November 20, 2023. We also repurchased approximately 5 7,000 shares $56,200,000 during the quarter, highlighting our commitment to prudently returning capital shareholders. Finally, our CapEx in the quarter was $114,000,000 primarily related to the and food and beverage enhancements at Wynn Las Vegas, concession related CapEx in Macau and normal cost maintenance across the With that, we will now open up the call to Q and A.

Operator

Thank you. And our first question comes from Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank.

Speaker 4

Craig, Julie, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. Craig, the market In the 3Q, was that about annualized about $24,500,000,000 which is about 8% Kind of below the midpoint of that range you spoke to earlier in the year. I believe it was on the Q1 call. It looks like Just annualizing 3Q results and not adjusting for hold.

Speaker 4

You're about halfway there at the Macau property and basically there at levels, give or take a couple of $1,000,000 at the Cotai property. Based on what you've seen over the last kind of 6 months since that Call the way the markets evolved from several perspectives. Does that kind of benchmark for market GGR still hold true with

Speaker 2

Yes. Your observation on Wind Palace is right. I mentioned earlier in the year, you're right, it was with Q1 call that Wynn Palace would get back to 2019 levels first. And if you as you said, if you annualize what we did in 3Q, It's in that same zone. I think Wynn Palace did normalize in 2019 something like 675.

Speaker 2

So when it comes to Winpellix, we can check the box. We've done it. In October, When the market was run rating over $28,000,000,000 obviously we had Golden Week, Wynn Palace normalized EBITDA per day exceeded October 2019 as you would expect. Wynn Macau, which had healthy results, but lower market share in October versus 2019 for many of the reasons we have talked about on previous calls did not exceed its October 2019 EBITDA. So, we are lagging our prediction a tad and we need to see market share stability and growth at Wynn Macau to get back to 2019 levels.

Speaker 2

The last point I would make is that Our concession related non gaming programming has picked up honestly quite a bit faster than I had anticipated earlier in the year. As Julie talked about in her prepared remarks. We've been doing some pretty amazing programming and it's generated a bit of extra OpEx that is in fact a slight headwind. Of course, in these early days, we're figuring out what programming is EBITDA positive, what's not, etcetera, and we'll drop that program that ultimately isn't. But that extra OpEx probably pushes the full EBITDA recovery at Wynn Macau back a bit, but speaks to the strength of Wynn Palace because even with that We've hit that target that I've talked about.

Speaker 2

At the end of the day, I guess what I look at is we've proven that we can hold share without junkets, That we have structurally better margins and that our business is pretty well positioned for growth in Macau as the market continues to come back. So I feel pretty good about where we are.

Speaker 4

Great. That's helpful. And then if I could just one follow-up. Obviously, a lot's been made in recent earnings around reinvestment within Lumacao Gaming Arena. It's always hard to tell when looking at kind of the public filings and the releases and whatnot.

Speaker 4

It doesn't look like there was anything sizable in this quarter in terms of reinvestment, the direction of reinvestment one way or another. Of reinvestment one way or another. Could you comment a little bit about kind of how you guys see that data relative to 2019? Maybe how you see it now and how you see it trending?

Speaker 2

Yes. I think your analysis what you just said is correct. I mean reinvestment in that market can bounce around for us anyway. I can't Speak to the rest of the market, but it could bounce around 50, 60, 70 basis points at any given point in time. But I haven't seen anything That is irrational or substantive.

Speaker 4

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. And our next caller is Joe Greff with JPMorgan.

Speaker 5

Good afternoon, guys. Just going back to your earlier comments, Craig, on October, in Macau, the 2 properties in the aggregate, How close are they at October 2019 EBITDA levels in the aggregate? Obviously, when Talos ahead, when the Cal lagging as you mentioned?

Speaker 2

Yes. I would say that they are lagging slightly behind our view, nothing our earlier view. Again, Nothing tragic, but the strength at Wynn Palace, inclusive of the programming costs that I mentioned And the impact of that and the work we still have to do at Wynn Macau, those are the dynamics of the two properties now. And I would say that it was slightly below. But again, we're within line of sight at this point and I just am not all that worried about it.

Speaker 5

Great. And then my follow-up question relates to Wayne Almer Jean. Craig, what are the next steps and the timing for the next There including the issuance of a license.

Speaker 2

Sure. The regulations are in draft form. The regulations we expect the regulations will be passed. And then we expect that the licensing process is a process is a 2 step process, the issuance of a provisional license and then a final license and I would Expect that that would happen soon. So it's happening.

Speaker 2

The process is moving along. You've seen that they've appointed Leadership for the regulatory body there. And I think by the way, I think that's really good for the market because it lends a lot of certainty,

Operator

Thank you. And our next caller is Shaun Kelley with Bank of America.

Speaker 6

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. I was hoping you'd comment a little bit about the just the high end play in Las Vegas. It seems like we've definitely started to see material rebound there. And kind of you just talk a little bit about behavior that you're seeing, maybe a level of recovery, and just kind of, yes, some of the dynamics there would be helpful.

Speaker 2

Sure. I'll start and then I'll see if Brian has anything to add. I mean that's really kind of our business. So I can't say that we've seen anything materially different this quarter than we've In the past few quarters, the numbers I mean, you can look at the revenue numbers. The revenue numbers are incredibly strong.

Speaker 2

And so, So we're pretty proud of what we've been able to deliver over the course of the past year. High end international play remains a little bit of a mixed bag as it has over the Really since the reopening from COVID. But I feel great about where our database is. We always Brian, would you add anything to that? The team is continuing to do a great job.

Speaker 2

I think we're still continuing to steal share. We

Speaker 6

Just as a quick follow-up, in the OpEx bill and I think this was maybe in Julie's remarks, I heard something about Maybe a $10,000,000 impact in Las Vegas or I was just wondering if I caught that correctly and if you could elaborate a little bit on what that may have been?

Speaker 1

Sure. Yes. I mean, I mentioned that there were a number of factors impacting OpEx, which did increase to $4,100,000 in the quarter. There were a number of one off items that added up to about $10,000,000 in the quarter that we wanted to call out that will be non recurring. But in addition to that, of course, as Craig mentioned and I added to, we did accrue for the anticipated union outcome.

Speaker 1

We also, we took in a COLA increase, cost of living allowance increase for our nonunion employees effective 1st July. We have the launch of awakening, the relaunch of awakening in the program which was just starting to ramp in the quarter as well. And so a combination of those factors is what drove up the operating expense. And yes, I can confirming it was a $10,000,000 one time non And

Speaker 2

it was a mixed bag of stuff, Sean.

Speaker 5

Perfect. Thank you so much. You got it.

Operator

Thank you. Our next Caller is Dan Politzer with Wells Fargo. You may go ahead, sir.

Speaker 7

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 3

First one, just wanted to touch on

Speaker 7

the promotional environment in Macau. Some of your competitors have made comments that they're being more aggressive. So I just wanted to Check with you there. And I know the contra revenues picked up a little bit in the quarter. I think that's mostly in Wynn Macau, but just Anything to kind of call out there in terms of the environment or at your properties?

Speaker 2

No. A colleague of yours had had a similar question just Nothing to call out on the reinvestment side. As I said to him, our reinvestment can bounce around 50, 60, 70 basis points at any given point in time from time to time, but nothing that looks we don't see anything that looks irrational Concrete trend. In terms of the mix of what is contra revenue versus running through OpEx, You may recall that we relaunched our loyalty program earlier this year. The structure of that program allows for a lot more flexibility for the customer in terms of what it is they are choosing to be rewarded with.

Speaker 2

And that can cause shifts in movements of $1 of reinvestment between contra revenue or between OpEx, but it's Same dollar. So it's really not any indication of an increase in reinvestment per se. It's really just geography on the income statement.

Speaker 7

Okay. So just some accounting nuance. Okay. And then just moving to Las Vegas, obviously, F1 is right around the corner. It seems like this is an event that skews more to the high end and that's right in your wheelhouse.

Speaker 7

Is there any way to think about The EBITDA uplift given some of your competitors have thrown out this kind of mid single digit type EBITDA list?

Speaker 2

Yes. We won't well, I'll tell you this. I've heard on a couple of our competitors' calls commentary around Expectations coming down within the market. I will tell you that our expectations for F1 haven't changed one bit because as you rightly pointed out, we knew that it was our customer base that would be And we've had some doozies before. So, this is shaping up to be a great event for us.

Speaker 2

We're incredibly excited. We're not talking about EBITDA Uplift. But it's going to be good. Brian, what would you add?

Speaker 8

Sure. I'd say F1 is really coming in nicely Right now for all areas of our business, we should exceed actually our all time hotel revenue as well, our hotel revenue record by about 50% for the 3 day period. And as Craig mentioned, the gaming revenue and credits looking quite promising, some of the best we've ever seen. So I think we're looking forward to an

Speaker 2

We barely even put any rooms on public sale. I mean we had We've had robust demand.

Speaker 7

Understood. Thanks so much.

Speaker 9

Sure.

Operator

Thank you. And our next caller is Brandt Montour with Barclays. You may go ahead, sir.

Speaker 9

Good evening, everybody. Thanks for taking my question. So back to Macau, I know we talked about this on prior calls, Craig, about the Peninsula. There was some disruption earlier in the year that I think tailed off into the early part of this quarter. But maybe you could just remind us the game plan of how you're going to get more recovery at that property, and any update there would be helpful.

Speaker 2

Yes, sure. You're right. Disruption did tail off at the in the early portion of this quarter. There were some trailing works including some work that was done in Some of the high end salon areas that took a little bit longer, but in the main your statement is correct. And now it's really the hand to hand combat of gaining market share.

Speaker 2

I mean we've done this before. When Palace opened, we were not nearly as experienced as some of our competitors in mass marketing. We got experienced very fast. And you can see obviously the results of that at Thales. And so it's really Kind of every lever that you have to pull, right?

Speaker 2

It comes down to the hosting team. It comes down to food and beverage. It comes down to amenities that you're offering. It's everything. So I can't tell you that there's one silver bullet.

Speaker 2

You're really doing it one basis point at a time and that's where we're focused now.

Speaker 9

That's super helpful. And then another question Macau. The OpEx consideration from the concession Commitments, it's probably too early to quantify what that is for next year, but maybe you could give us a little bit of flavor for If it's going to be, how the mix will sort of skew between Peninsula and Cotai and sort of how it might and How it might, the cadence might step up throughout the year?

Speaker 1

Sure, Brian. Maybe I'll start with this and maybe Craig can add if I missed anything. I'll just talk sort of more broadly for our whole Macao business. Sequentially, you'll have seen Our EBITDA margin decreased around 90 basis points. About half of that was due to lower hold.

Speaker 1

But there was an additional $6,000,000 of OpEx Sequentially due to bad debt swing because we did have a credit in Q2. And then as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, I gave you a pretty detailed list of all the non gaming programming that we've really accelerated and started doing in the last few months With the FIFA tournament, the Da Vinci exhibition, the HyperCar exhibition, some DJ events and concerts and culinary events. So when you adjust for that noise, the margin improvement we're seeing is clearly operating leverage because we held share and we were prudent with OpEx. So If we think about going forward, we're expecting margin at Palace to generally stay in the current range and margin at Wynn Macau to As business volumes come back. So there will be quarter to quarter variations from our events calendar as we continue to roll out programming

Speaker 2

And it's too it's really too early to say. Honestly, I didn't When I think about everything we've done this year and the list is extensive, I actually didn't expect it to pick up this quickly. The team has gotten incredibly creative and incredibly resourceful in terms of what they've done. And keep in mind, We do not yet have certain tools that our competitors have like an arena or an event Now that's part of our plan from a CapEx perspective and part of our CapEx concession commitments. And so we'll catch up in due course, But it's really too early to say what the seasonal cadence will be because some can be done only outside of typhoon season, others can be done year round.

Speaker 2

And it's also a little too early to say what the split will be between properties. I don't think it changes the investment thesis much. I mean, You're talking about a few $1,000,000 here and there, but it's important in terms of fulfilling our concession commitments. And honestly, it's If you do it right, it's important in terms of building your brand into that region similar to what we've done in Vegas frankly with all the programming that we've done here. It's important for building your brands and for casino marketing.

Speaker 9

Helpful comments. Thanks all. Sure.

Operator

Thank you. And our next caller is Robin Farley with UBS.

Speaker 10

Great. Thanks. Two questions. One is and I don't know if This may not be a key in your view to the Peninsula property recovering, but I'm curious if you have a view on the kind of the grind mass Visitor coming back to Macau or what it will take for that customer to recover the 2019 levels if you see there's a transportation bottleneck issue or kind of macro factors in Mainland China or I guess just would love to get your take on that?

Speaker 2

Sure, Robin. I think it's a little bit all of the above. You're correct in that downtown is much more skewed towards A transient customer, towards a more, base mass to use the term customer. And we benefit there disproportionately when visitation to Macau is high. And so as visitation to the market returns, which inevitably I believe it will, we will benefit from that.

Speaker 2

Of course, we don't want to And that's due to any number of factors, many of which you described. Of course, we don't want to wait for that, right? So in the meantime, we need to be very, very focused On market share and driving operating leverage by gaining market share. But no doubt as that transient customer comes back, Downtown will benefit

Speaker 10

Thank you. And then Just the other question is just wondering why you're adjusting for hold in the mass business in Macao. You haven't done it historically. The other operators like it's typically sort of not done. So just why the change in thought on why that would be something to start adjusting for?

Speaker 10

Thanks.

Speaker 2

Sure. Others not doing it has never been a reason for us to consider. We have no problem Being the first or being a little bit of an outlier. It's really because of the mix of our business now. I mean, we are disproportionately masked now.

Speaker 2

So what we're trying to do is give a clear view of how the assets are performing by providing a normalized number, frankly, the same way we do in Vegas.

Speaker 10

Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks. Sure.

Operator

Thank you. Our next Caller is Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. You may go ahead.

Speaker 11

Thanks. So you referenced accruing for Union contract in Vegas in the quarter, and I'm sure you're still having an impact in the Q4. But as we look forward to 2024, How are you thinking about the major puts and takes to margins and whether you can hold margins in Vegas similar to what you were just kind of outlining in Macao, obviously different considerations here.

Speaker 2

Sure. Well, first, it is An important note before I get to the crux of your question, normalized margin historically compresses from Q2 to Q3. You can go back See that and it's really due to the customer mix during the summer months. To your primary question, as we've said before, We really view margin as an outcome of aggressively driving revenues and diligently managing costs, an outcome not a target. So we don't forecast margin per se.

Speaker 2

On the revenue side, I think our results in Q3 speak for themselves and we will continue to make sure that we have the best offering in Vegas. On the cost side, Julie mentioned a whole bunch of factors affecting Q3 in her prepared remarks. And with respect to the labor cost increases that you referenced, we are of course looking at ways to offset some of them. And as I've said before, because of COVID, we have a playbook for Every scenario out there and we know how to run the business as efficiently as possible at any given revenue level. But as always, we will focus on our Service levels on our brand.

Speaker 2

And so if demand continues to be as strong as it is right now, will we trim solely to claw back, I don't know, a point Margin, for example, yet damage the brand? No. But if the demand picture or our pricing power changes, we will of course manage OpEx accordingly in a manner that is Best for the long term.

Speaker 11

Fair enough. And then one follow-up on the top line. How should we think about Super Bowl versus Formula 1 for you? Do you generally think that this will be A different customer base, the same customer base, I guess what are you seeing as you get closer to Formula 1 and start to see bookings, I imagine, for capable of least interest.

Speaker 2

I guess at a headline level and then I'll turn it over to Brian. Think about it as international individuals and domestic group. Brian, would you add anything to that?

Speaker 8

No, I'd agree with

Speaker 9

you, Craig.

Speaker 8

I think on the casino side, we're going to see Very similar overlap. But on the transient side, we're going to see heavy domestic. We're really looking forward to it and already getting quite a bit of interest With one heck of a waiting list. On the corporate side, I think we'll even do stronger. There's a tremendous amount of demand on the corporate Group side for hospitality and entertaining at the highest level and it's our specialty here at Wynn.

Speaker 9

So I think it will pair very well for Super Bowl.

Speaker 8

So we're looking forward to 2 Successful weekend.

Speaker 11

Thank you. I'll jump back in the queue.

Speaker 2

Sure.

Operator

Thank you. Our next caller is David Katz with Jefferies.

Speaker 3

Afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I'd love just a little more color on how we think about margins going forward. I admit it's one of the Aspects of the model where we've sort of spent more time and thought and try and get those Particularly in Macau, what a normalized margin could be and what the puts and takes are around that. Obviously, not asking for a specific guided number, Just some qualitative commentary.

Speaker 3

Thanks.

Speaker 2

Sure. Julie, do you want to cover again your thinking

Speaker 1

Yes. I think, David, I think I ran through it. And clearly, you heard the point about sequentially, We had a move in margin which was really a bunch of timing with a credit from OpEx. We had hold and a credit from OpEx versus Q2. There if you think about the way we look at it and we manage our OpEx really tightly and we're thinking Really carefully about our concession commitments and how we can program really effectively to use them really as a marketing effort To drive that kind of brand recognition and attract customers in, we've done a lot of that and that has impacted on the OpEx per day in the quarter.

Speaker 1

In the early days, I think some of those will work and some of them won't, and we're going to get a better sense of that, and we'll be smarter about the kinds of things that we'll do. But coming back to what I said, we're expecting the margin for Wynn Palace to generally stay where it's at And for Wynn Macau to improve with operating leverage as business volumes return. We the quarter to quarter, there'll be some small movement, but we wouldn't expect

Speaker 2

But importantly, both properties are structurally higher than they were in 20 So we're doing great from a margin perspective. If we can yield and I do believe we can, if we can yield Wynn Palace Rooms appropriately because as you know it's not about occupancy, it's about who's in the room. Then we could see some margin expansion there, but I wouldn't underwrite it yet. I think Wynn Palace's margin is great as it is and I would hold at that level. And, Wynn Macau, it's a question of operating leverage coming from volumes.

Speaker 3

Right. And so if I may, just following that up, As you continue to add in more non gaming elements, should we think about that as somewhat of a headwind to Sort of finding that comfortable margin or are those just really vehicles for maintaining where you're going to wind up from gaming anyway? Yes.

Speaker 2

I would break that into 2 pieces. I would say that as we bring material CapEx online like an event center or a spectacle show. Those businesses will have a margin profile in and of themselves and they will be additive to our gaming business and ultimately drive gaming customer visitation, which will be accretive to margin. But that's it's way too early to even talk about that even at a qualitative level given where we are in the CapEx With respect to programming, which is what we're doing now, which is essentially more OpEx driven with the facilities that we have today, We're able to do that without having a material impact on margin and you saw that in Q3 where we did A reasonable amount of programming at Wynn Palace actually and we were still able to deliver the margin that we have shown you today.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thank you. Good luck.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks. Our next question will be our last. Thanks, operator.

Operator

Thank you. John DeCree with CBRE Securities. You may go ahead, sir.

Speaker 9

Hi, everyone. Just one for me. We'll maybe finish up with a quick capital allocation discussion. So I guess the share repurchase A bit higher than we've seen in the quarter and also the tender for the Wynn Las Vegas notes. So Julie or Craig, curious if you could tell us how you're thinking about allocating capital in quarter.

Speaker 9

And then as we look ahead, you have the dividend and some CapEx that's on the horizon. So how are you kind of thinking about capital allocation for things like we saw in the 3Q as well, whether it's share repurchases or being opportunistic with your debt?

Speaker 2

Yes, sure. So we're always balancing some liquidity Right, between capital deployment growth, returning capital to shareholders, etcetera. And we're in a Good position to do kind of all of the above right now. You just mentioned a bunch of potential uses in your question. And as you know, we restarted our dividend earlier this year.

Speaker 2

So we're really well capitalized and I expect that we're going to maintain extra liquidity until we see how a few things play out, the situation in New York, macro economy, the yield curve, etcetera, etcetera. I would say our bias is to even in a rising rate environment to try to stay in a free cash flow Position comparable to where we are now. We're fortunate to have a lot of long dated fixed Debt, so we have a lot of time to figure that out and for the yield curve to potentially move before we're in a position to materially refinance. But between now and the point at which we know, the fate of the license in New York, I would expect that we are going to, Do when the stock is mispriced as we believe it has been, we're going to do some share repurchases. We'll manage the debt stack consistent with what I just talked about in terms of wanting to fade some incremental interest expense.

Speaker 2

And then of course, we have capital deployment We'll be doing to build a luxurious beautiful property in the UAE. So that's kind of where we are.

Speaker 9

Sounds good. That's helpful. Greg, I appreciate your thoughts. Congratulations on the quarter.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much.

Speaker 1

Well, thank you. Thank you, everyone. That That will now conclude the Q3 earnings call for Wynn. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to talking to you again soon.

Speaker 2

Thanks everybody.

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Earnings Conference Call
Wynn Resorts Q3 2023
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