Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment have performed best during the first quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Macau.- Despite the being shut down for two weeks<\/strong><\/em><\/a> in February and the on-going economic impact<\/strong><\/em><\/a> of Coronavirus, Macau’s casinos could report “almost break even” levels of EBITDA for the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is based on research carried out by analysts Morgan Stanley<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Morgan Stanley, EBITDA break-even required \u201croughly\u201d MOP330million (US$41.3million) per day in gross gaming revenue (GGR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On April 1, the city\u2019s casino regulator reported Macau industry first-quarter GGR of MOP30.49billion, down 60 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment Group were revealed to have performed the best due to income from their shopping malls meaning they were less affected by the casinos closures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We expect Sands China to report property EBITDA of US$55million, aided by retail rental (which is helped by a stable base rent component and does not have much fixed costs),” Morgan Stanley analysts said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They added that Galaxy Entertainment “should post corporate EBITDA of HKD160million (US$20.6million), helped by factors including its construction material division and retail business.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morgan Stanley stated Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd was likely to report \u201cnegative property EBITDA of US$7million” in Macau for the three months ended March 31 , while its casino-operation business at City of Dreams Manila could post US$30million “since the casino was closed at a much later stage in the quarter.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding Macau operators Wynn Macau Ltd and MGM China Holdings Ltd, Morgan Stanley warned that they would register corporate EBITDA losses of US$1million and HKD113 million respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysts added that SJM Holdings Ltd was likely to have a first-quarter corporate EBITDA loss of HKD119million despite revenue sharing at so-called satellite casinos \u2013 casino hotels with third-party ownership but using SJM Holdings\u2019 Macau gaming licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forecasts for MGM China noted the company could report negative first-quarter EBITDA \u201cdue to higher fixed costs\u201d at MGM Cotai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n