Analysts cited Macau’s strong gaming revenue recovery and Melco’s shift towards premium mass and direct VIP customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Macau.-\u00a0Moody\u2019s Investor Services\u00a0has upgraded Melco Resorts Group’s credit outlook from negative to stable. The decision follows the release of\u00a0the company’s third-quarter results<\/a>, in which operating revenue was US$1.02bn, up from US$947.9m in the previous quarter<\/a>\u00a0and up 321 per cent in year-on-year terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rating agency foresees Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (MRE) and Studio City generating free cash flow in the next 12-18 months, aided by the market recovery and the completion of major capital spending projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A shift towards premium mass and direct VIP customers is anticipated to increase margins, with Melco Resorts’ adjusted EBITDA expected to reach US$0.9bn in 2023 and US$1.3bn in 2024. Studio City’s adjusted EBITDA is projected to turn positive in 2023, increasing to approximately US$0.3bn in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) has recovered since China’s reopening in early January, reaching 93 per cent and 38 per cent of 2019 levels for the mass and VIP segments, respectively, in the third quarter. Moody’s estimates mass-segment GGR at about 85 per cent of the 2019 level this year and a full recovery in 2024, driven by premium mass customers. The VIP segment GGR is expected to reach 32-36 per cent of the 2019 level in 2023-24 as direct VIPs replace some businesses lost due to regulatory restrictions on junkets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Analysts cited Macau’s strong gaming revenue recovery and Melco’s shift towards premium mass and direct VIP customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Moody's Investor Services has upgraded Melco Resorts Group's credit outlook from negative to stable, citing strong Q3 operating revenue and Macau's gaming revenue recovery. The upgrade is supported by Melco's strategic shift towards premium mass and direct VIP customers, which is expected to drive free cash flow generation and significant EBITDA growth in 2023-2024.","focusai_entities":"Moody's Investor Services, Melco Resorts Group, Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, Studio City","focusai_location":"Macau, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Melco's Debt Structure?","query":"How might Melco's improved free cash flow generation and credit outlook impact its debt refinancing strategies and capital allocation for future expansion or shareholder returns?"},{"label":"Macau GGR Outlook?","query":"What are the specific drivers and potential headwinds for Macau's mass-segment GGR achieving a full recovery to 2019 levels in 2024, particularly concerning premium mass customer behavior?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23907,23906,18488],"class_list":["post-777011215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-land-based-casino","tag-macau-casinos","tag-melco-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777011215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777011215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777011215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777040943,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777011215\/revisions\/777040943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777011215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777011215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777011215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}