City of Dreams and Studio City help push Melco past its earnings forecast
With Studio City in Macau enjoying its best quarter since the pandemic, Melco Resorts was able to smash its earnings forecast in the first quarter with revenues of US$1.23bn, up 10.8 per cent year-on-year, including a 12.2 per cent rise in gaming revenues, which reached US$1.02bn.
In Macau, City of Dreams increased 18 per cent year-on-year to reach US$658.1m, Studio City was up six per cent to reach US$354.5m whilst Altira fell by 24 per cent year-on-year to US$28m. Melco’s market share in Macu increase by a percentage point rising from 14.7 per cent to 15.7 per cent.
In Manila, City of Dreams Manila saw its revenues fall by 13 per cent year-on-year to US$109m whilst in Cyprus, City of Dreams Mediterranean, enjoyed an increase of 10 per cent year-on-year to US$59m.
Lawrence Ho, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Macau Property EBITDA grew 32 per cent quarter-over-quarter, demonstrating our strength and growth potential in Macau. Mass drop increased each month during the quarter, and we recorded our highest daily mass drop ever. The ongoing strength that we are seeing in our business momentum is a direct result of the combined efforts of our teams, and the quality of our product offerings, and we will continue to build on this momentum.
“City of Dreams Manila was impacted by the increased competition in the market, while results at City of Dreams Mediterranean and our satellite casinos in Cyprus exhibited solid sequential and year-on-year growth despite the continued challenges posed by the conflicts in the region.
“And finally, the fit-out of the casino at City of Dreams Sri Lanka is progressing well and we continue to expect to commence casino operations in the third quarter of 2025.”
CBRE analyst John DeCree said: “It’s hard not to get excited about the inflection evidenced in Melco’s 4Q24 results in Macau, coupled with upbeat commentary on the start of 2Q25. With recent share gains holding steady, increased opex discipline, normalizing promotional activity and strong market wide visitation trends during the May holiday period, we see upside to our forecast for Melco in Macau.”
