Melco net income falls as Chinese gamblers curb spending

That amount was higher than a us$ 93.4 million average estimate from nine analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 5.8 percent to us$ 226.4 million, and net revenue fell 4.3 percent to us$ 1.01 billion. Earnings per American depositary share fell to 19 cents from 21 cents.

The decline reflects a pullback by high-rollers, or VIP bettors, from China’s mainland, even as mass-market betting gained. Melco and rivals such as Galaxy Entertainment Group are expanding on Macau’s increasingly popular Cotai strip to reach more middle-class Chinese tourists.

Melco Crown fell 1.3 percent in Hong Kong trading, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 2.4 percent.

CEO Lawrence Ho said on a conference call yesterday that he’s “optimistic” about growth in 2013, and that the first few days of November were “phenomenal.” Melco maintained its market-leading mass-market yields, he said.

So-called rolling chip volume, a measure of VIP gambling, fell 4 percent to us$ 19.5 billion in the third quarter, Melco said. Mass-market table-games drop gained 22 percent to us$ 889.8 million and slot-machine handle surged 54 percent to us$ 816.3 million, it said.

International casino operators are ramping up expansion in Macau.

Cotai Expansion
Ho and partner James Packer’s Crown, Australian biggest casino owner, opened their second Macau casino, City of Dreams, on the Cotai Strip in June 2009 and renamed and rebranded their smaller Crown Macau as the Altira.

Macau’s Public Works & Transport department in July gave Melco Crown approval to build a five-star hotel and film production facilities on a 130,789 square-meter (1.4 million square-foot) site earmarked for the company’s Studio City project, according to a government gazette.

Sands plans to invest at least us2 .5 billion to build its fifth resort, to be called “The Parisian,” in the Asian hub.

Wynn Macau won a land grant from Macau’s government in May to build its second casino in the former Portuguese colony. MGM China Holdings and SJM Holdings have also been given approval to develop casinos in Cotai.

Melco expects the first and second phases of its joint venture casino in Manila to open by the first half of 2014, Ho said on yesterday’s conference call. While Melco’s board decided not to pay a dividend now to focus on its development pipeline, it will revisit the issue in a year’s time, Ho said.