Hato impact on Macau operators minimal

Sunday 24th of September 2017

Typhoon Hato had only marginal impact on Macau’s six casino operators, with VIP business showing strength in September, said Morgan Stanley in a note on Monday.

“The impact of Typhoon Hato was marginal on six casino operators, and traffic and revenue were back in a couple of days, especially in Cotai,” noted analysts Praveen Choudhary and Alex Poon.

Golden Week holiday bookings have also appeared strong so far.

“The current quarter is tracking at +6 percent GGR growth quarter-on-quarter, as September has been strong and forward looking for longer than the usual Golden Week in October is strong as well.”

Looking further ahead, Morgan Stanley says that it expects mass revenue growth to remain above 10 percent for the rest of the year, while VIP growth is expected to stay above 20 percent year-on-year for the next few months of the year.

“We see 17Q4 GGR slowing to 16 percent year-on-year from 17Q3's 21 percent year-on-year mainly due to a base effect.”

Morgan Stanley says it believes Wynn Macau to outperform MGM China and Galaxy, based on 17Q3 EBITDA quarter-on-quarter performance.

Bricks & Mortar Typhoon Impact Performance GGR