Macau GGR to grow 10 pct despite the typhoon

Brokerages Sanford C. Bernstein and Nomura forecasted the casino segment to grow despite closing temporarily due to the storm.

Macau.- Typhoon Mangkhut forced Macau casinos to shut down their operations -for the first time since they opened- for almost an entire weekend and slashed September’s financial forecasts. However, according to brokerages Sanford C. Bernstein and Japan-based Nomura, GGR is still on track to grow by the end of this month.

Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd assessed that GGR is expected to reach between €2.3 billion and €2.35 billion, a 3-4% increase year-on-year. The new projection is considerably higher than the first assessment the brokerage released after the typhoon, which put the estimated growth between 3% and no growth at all.

“GGR this month had been impacted by Typhoon Mangkhut, which hit Macau during the weekend of September 15 and 16, with the closure of all casinos and disruptions to transportation in and out Macau,” a report written by analysts Vitaly Umansky, Zhen Gong and Kelsey Zhu said and added: “Macau casinos had been shut down by Typhoon Mangkhut for 33 hours. The damage from the typhoon to casino properties was immaterial, but GGR was impacted as a result of the weather, casino closures and transport disruption.”

Meanwhile, Nomura’s Instinet was way more optimistic and said Macau GGR growth could be 10% higher than a year ago. Analysts for the firm explained that the figure would’ve reached between €2.53 billion and €2.64 billion, which would’ve meant a 15% growth year-on-year.

According to Instinet, volume trends recovered reasonably after the typhoon, mainly thanks by a late-month demand motivated by the mid-autumn festival and recently-announced VIP room openings at MGM Cotai.