2009 overall was harder than 2008 for Wynn's empire

Wynn Resorts loses us$ 5.2 million 4Q of 2009

2010-02-26
Reading time 1:29 min

But 2009 overall was harder than 2008 for billionaire CEO Steve Wynn's casino empire, as casino customers kept their spending in check during the recession. The Las Vegas-based company earned us$ 20.7 million, or 17 cents per share, for the year, compared with us$ 210.5 million in 2008.

The Encore boosted Wynn Resorts' revenue in Las Vegas just 5.4 percent to us$ 505.8 million in 2009, despite adding 90 table games and 800 slot machines.

Steve Wynn said he's not optimistic about Las Vegas until the economy improves for working Americans, and for companies that book meetings in Sin City.

"I'm afraid to say that I think the outlook for 2010 is very conservative," he said. "I don't see any major change in the future. I don't see it getting worse per se, but I do think that unless there is some signal from Washington that they can control the deficits, that not only Las Vegas but the country faces dire problems."

Excluding one-time items, Wynn Resorts earned us$ 10.3 million, or 8 cents per share, for the fourth quarter, which ended December 31. Analysts forecast profit of 13 cents per share.

Its net revenue was us$ 809.3 million, compared with us$ 614.3 million a year earlier. Analysts expected revenue of us$ 785 million.

"We're more of a Chinese company than American company today as we're having this call," Wynn said. "I love it. Thank God for being outside the United States today. There isn't an executive in the world that isn't thrilled about being outside the United States today."

And Macau will play an even bigger role in the company's fortunes soon. The Encore at Wynn Macau - with restaurants, 410 suites, retail stores and casino space - is to open in April. The company said it has spent nearly us$ 455 million developing and building the resort.

After that, Wynn Resorts plans to partner in a three-story waterfront casino in Philadelphia. Details about the development's cost and timeline were not immediately available - the company disclosed a letter of intent this week - but Wynn said the property would not include a hotel and would serve customers who live nearby.

Wynn said it had us$ 2 billion in cash and us$ 3.6 billion in total debt as of the end of 2009.

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