Penn National Gaming reports a negative 4th-quarter

Revenue: us$ 644.7 million (down 13.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012). The company attributes the drop in revenue to increased competition in its West Virginia and Ohio markets, and Midwest and East Coast winter weather that has kept customers away.

Loss: us$ 888.7 million (down from earnings of us$ 20.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2012). Costs associated with the company’s Nov. 1 spinoff of Gaming and Leisure Properties, including new rent payments, were responsible for most of the reported losses, the company said. Adjusted to include rental costs, refinancing, insurance and stock compensation, Penn would have had net income of us$ 4.3 million compared with us$ 65.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Losses per share: us$11.40 (down from earnings of 19 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2012).

Penn National was a company in transition in the fourth quarter with its GLPI spinoff, which was pursued to increase shareholder value.

Penn CEO Tim Wilmott said the company also invested in the refurbishment of its Hollywood Casino property in St. Louis and has started construction on the us$360 million Hollywood Casino-branded tribal operation 20 miles east of downtown San Diego with the Jamul Indian tribe.

The San Diego property is expected to have a three-story, 200,000-square-foot casino with 50 table games, poker and 1,700 slot machines. It is scheduled to open in 2016.

Penn also expects to learn by the end of the month whether it will be selected to build a casino in Massachusetts and in the second quarter, expects to hear from Pennsylvania gaming regulators about Penn’s proposal for a new casino in Philadelphia. The company is one of five applicants for the Philadelphia casino.

In this morning’s conference call, Penn focused on corporate changes with little commentary on its M Resort, which last month received a Forbes Travel Guide four-star rating. The property’s Spa Mio received a four-star recognition for the fourth year, a run that began when it opened in 2009.