Hello, and welcome to today's webcast. My name is Jen, and I'll be your web event specialist today. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn today's program over to Mr. Brian Blackman, Vice President of Investor Relations. Brian, the floor is yours.

Thank you, and good afternoon, and welcome to Caesars Entertainment fourth quarter and full year 2015 results conference call. Joining me today from Caesars Entertainment Corporation are Mark Frissora, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Eric Hession, Chief Financial Officer. A copy of our press release, certain earnings presentation slides and a replay of this conference call are available in the Investor Relations section of our website at caesars.com. The slides are available for download and will accompany Mark and Eric's prepared remarks for those of you on the phone that would like to follow along. Also, please note that prior to this call we furnished a copy of this afternoon's press release to the SEC in a Form 8-K and will shortly file our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Before we get underway, I'd like to call your attention to certain statements and information on Slides 1 through 4, which we incorporate by this reference. The forward-looking statements Safe Harbor disclaimer in our public documents covers this call and the simultaneous webcast at caesars.com. This call, the webcast and its replay are the property of Caesars Entertainment Corporation. It's not for rebroadcast or used by any other party without the prior written consistent of Caesars Entertainment Corporation. If you do not agree with these terms, please disconnect now. By remaining on the line, you agree to be bound by these terms. Today's call will include discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin, property EBITDA and certain supplemental financial information. Reconciliations of net income and loss of property EBITDA and net income and loss to adjusted EBITDA can be found in the tables of our press release. As a reminder, Caesars Entertainment Corporation is a holding company with the following consolidated entities,…

Thank you, Brian. I am pleased to report that the company's excellent performance in the first three quarters of 2015 continued into the fourth quarter, culminating in the best full year performance for Caesars Enterprise since 2007. As Eric will discuss later in further detail, at continuing CEC, which excludes CEOC, full year net revenues increased 15% to $4.5 billion and full year adjusted EBITDA increased 46% to $1.3 billion. I will now speak more broadly to enterprise-wide performance, which adds CEOC to CEC. Beginning on Slide 6, you will see that we delivered solid annual improvement year-over-year across three critical measures, financial performance, customer satisfaction and employee engagement. Notably, our enterprise-wide adjusted EBITDA margins rose 662 basis points year-over-year to 26.5%, the highest annual EBITDA margin since 2007 pre-recession and expanded by more than 500 basis points year-over-year in each quarter of 2015. On a continuing CEC basis, adjusted EBITDA margins rose 608 basis points year-over-year. Additionally, we increased our customer satisfaction scores by 300 basis points across the enterprise as well as improved our overall score in our annual Employee Opinion Survey for the 10th consecutive year. These results were delivered amid the backdrop of considerable distractions, including the restructuring of Caesars Entertainment Operating Company and a challenging operating environment, particularly in the regional markets. They highlight the success for our improved operating model and our strategic investments in the business, which position the enterprise for enhanced financial performance going forward. Moving to Slide 7, enterprise-wide net revenues rose 6% year-over-year to $9.1 billion for the full year. On a continuing CEC basis, net revenues rose 15% year-over-year to $4.5 billion for the full year. Revenue growth was driven by higher hotel revenues with cash ADR up double-digits, aided by the expansion of resort fees across all properties…

Thank you, Mark. I'll first start with continuing CEC's consolidated results for the fourth quarter of 2015, followed by a review of the company's reportable segments, and then discuss the supplemental information we have provided on our website, which include CEOC's fourth quarter performance as well as continuing CEC plus CEOC results. Slide 17 summarizes continuing CEC results, not including CEOC, which is no longer consolidated. For the fourth quarter of 2015, continuing CEC net revenues increased 9% to $1.1 billion, adjusted EBITDA increased 52% to $305 million. On a per share basis, continuing CEC earned approximately $40 per share compared to a loss last year, which is largely due to $7.1 billion gain from the deconsolidation of CEOC in the first quarter of 2015, partially offset by a $1.1 billion charge to support the ongoing restructuring effort. Given these adjustments to earnings per share, our underlying year-over-year performance is most accurately represented through a strong adjusted EBITDA improvement. As Mark noted earlier, revenue performance was driven by strength in hospitality offerings as well as continued conversion in CIE's social and mobile games business. Specifically, growth in the hotel vertical was mainly due to higher room revenues at The LINQ Hotel, increased group room nights across our Las Vegas portfolio, resulting in our greatest annual group revenue since 2008 and resort fees driving higher cash ADR. The year-over-year improvement in EBITDA was primarily driven by net revenue increases, marketing and operational efficiencies and improved hotel customer mix. Slide 18 highlights the performance of Caesars Entertainment Resort Properties. Fourth quarter net revenues increased 3% to $517 million due to strong hotel performance driven by an increase in resort fees and improved hotel pricing power, higher food and beverage revenues and a positive impact from the recently opened Harrah's Atlantic City Waterfront…

Thanks Eric. And as I said when I started today, 2015 was a strong year for Caesars, delivering the highest full year performance post financial crisis. Looking at Slide 26, you will see that exceeded our annual CEOC EBITDA target of $1 billion by $100 million, ending the year with $1.1 billion of full year EBITDA. Additionally, we exceeded our previously stated enterprise-wide goal of achieving an incremental $250 million to $300 million of EBITDA from cost savings and marketing efficiencies, delivering approximately $350 million in incremental EBITDA from these efforts. Amid the background of CEOC's restructuring process, we will continue to execute on our business plan, driving a balanced agenda of enhancing revenue growth and driving productivity gains to further improve margins and cash flow, while at the same time maintaining high-levels of employee and customer satisfaction. We improved both our annual Employee Opinion Survey and customer satisfaction scores in 2015 across the enterprise, a good validation that while we manage to drive greater efficiencies, we sustained our quality performance in terms of employees and customers. Looking briefly at January 2016 and February to date, we are encouraged by our results, as we have continued to see EBITDA margin improvement across the enterprise, as well as sequential growth in our Las Vegas region, driven by the world-renowned Consumer Electronics Show at the start of the year. However, we experienced weather-related regional pressure, given two brief property closures in the Northeast, due top winter storm Jonas. Based on these continued trends in operating performance to date, we feel confident in our ability to meet our operating goals for the rest of the year. To summarize on Slide 27, with our improved operating model, we are confident that we will continue to drive growth opportunities across our businesses in 2016 and beyond. Our team is beginning to execute on our cornerstone initiatives that will play a pivotal role in strengthening our foundation and positioning us for future value creation. These initiatives include: one, investing in Caesars' infrastructure to enhance long-term value; two, invigorating hospitality and loyalty marketing program; three, inspiring a sales and service culture; and finally, instituting a continuous improvement-focused operating model. By executing on these strategic initiatives and driving continuous improvement, as we continue to expect EBITDA margin expansion opportunities enterprise wide. We will now open the line for Q&A. At this time, we ask to keep your questions focused on the performance of the business and please do not ask questions about the ongoing restructuring process. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Kevin Coyne from Goldman Sachs.

Just a quick question on 2016. It looks like you're going to renovate almost 5,000 more rooms in Las Vegas, which seems like it's continuing that accelerated pace, and you certainly have been getting great performance out of the ADR in those renovated rooms. But beyond 2016, will there be a further accelerated pace in '17 or will you revert back to a normal cadence of renovations?

Yes, we expect that the cadence will continue at this kind of a pace for probably in the foreseeable future, I'll say, the next three to four year given underinvested situation, as you know, over the last five years. So there is a lot more that came from and we've got a master plan that drives it by quarter, by year, so it's good for us, because we look at it as just an opportunity to invest in low-risk, high-return room refurbs, which we're pretty good at, and certainly, in the Vegas and most destination markets, you get a very high return on.

And I may have missed this in all the commentary, but have you stated in those renovated rooms what the incremental room rate you're getting is on a percentage basis?

It varies by property, but Eric, I don't know if you want any general guidelines that we give at all?

Sure, I can just give you some context, Kevin. When we renovate rooms substantially and change the branding of the tower, we then tend to be able to charge an enhanced premium something in the range of $48, $45. When it's a standard room renovation project where we don't necessarily change the theme of the room or just simply upgrade it, then we're kind of more in that $20 to $25 range, so it's a blend of those two, depending on what we decide to do with the particular tower and property.

Just turning to your comments on skills-based gaming, I believe I heard you mentioned that you're working to develop skills-based gaming. And I just wanted to clarify is Caesar's directly spending on that initiative or is that just an informal partnership with your gaming equipment vendors?

We're not investing in skills-based gaming in terms of -- we don't have standalone projects on that at all. We are doing side bets and we do develop our own table side bet games and we patent some of those, but nothing on skills-based games per se.

And in your commentary you mentioned that, Las Vegas was up in January sequentially due to CES, but was it also up year-over-year as well?

It was up year-over-year, Kevin.

And just my final question. I noticed the commentary didn't necessarily mention the High Roller. You did touch on the LINQ in terms of the F&B line up in terms of some new product coming in there, but I guess we've always thought that the wheel would ultimately have some potential for corporate and group events, and I'm not asking for specific performance stats, but can you tell us or give us any color in terms of how you feel about the performance to date and is there a push to get better performance out of that asset?

The wheel, as we mentioned before, Kevin, we provided a glimpse into the number of riders, that's generally consistent with that from the previous period. We do get a significant amount of group business and tour and travel business to join the wheel. One of the areas where we've seen particularly strong traction is with our Happy Half Hour promotion, where we have a bar cart in the wheel. And with it up-sell price on the ticket, customers can ride the wheel and have drinks while they are going around on the ride. So those efforts are definitely underway. It still drives a significant amount of business to the promenade and to the casinos that we have surrounding the wheel. And then from a return on investment perspective, we're pleased with the return from the initial capital investment.

Your next question comes from the line of Susan Berliner from JPMorgan.

So I wanted to start with -- I know in your presentation, you put for both CGPH casinos and CERP an unfavorable impact flat to $5 million. So I guess I was kind of curious why is it flat to $5 million? Is there a more precise?

So I'll address that. If you notice whenever we present a hold impact, we always provide a range. And part of the reason why we provide the range is because a predicted hold when you're talking about table games volatility has a number of factors including game mix, rules associated with the game, certain discounts and promotions that we offer and so we provide a range. It just happens that in this case the hold was modestly negative and our point estimate fell between the $0 million and $5 million range, so that's the range we provided.

And then when you talked about the bad debt expense from last year, can you just clarify exactly in CERP, was that added back? I assume that was added back to EBITDA last year, making it look higher, is that right?

No, it's the other way around. So it was not added back last year. We called it out last year as an item that was negatively impacting it. So this year's performance wouldn't have that associated bad debt expense.

And then just turning to CapEx. Can you help at all with, I guess, when some of these rooms will come out at some of your bigger room renovations?

When you say come out meaning have the construction projects be completed, so the rooms are back?

Yes. Or when they started, when they came out and when they're coming back in?

Yes. So we have a number of the room renovation projects underway. The Planet Hollywood phase one, which is a modest number of rooms we expect to be concluded this quarter, and then the large number will be concluded in the fourth quarter of this year. For Paris, again, we have the three projects that's currently underway that will be done also in this quarter and then the larger room products in the third quarter. You've heard us talk about the Julius Tower and we started the renovation in that on the fourth quarter and so the rooms are coming back at a regular pace now and we had sizeable percentage back for New Year's of last year. And then at Harrah's, we have a full tower down right now of around 600 rooms and that's expected to come back in the second quarter of 2016. So what we try to do is to space the room renovations, so that we as a market, from a market-wide perspective have a relatively constant amount of rooms out of service at any one time such that it doesn't negatively impact our ability to yield the hotel and can still run sizably high occupancies on the weekends, when we need the capacity.

And then just turning to the AC Convention Center, if you guys can provide a little bit of color of what you're seeing there? And also are you still expecting to get reimburse from the CRDA or is that not with everything going on in AC not going to happen?

So to answer that second question, the CRDA reimbursements were done, as the money was spent. So I think it was on every roughly $2 that we would spend, we'd get reimbursed a dollar on a month delay, something like that. And so to the extent that there is risk there, there maybe some few dollars remaining as we close up the project, but nothing substantial in terms of risk that we wouldn't get money from the CRDA. Overall, the convention center is performing exceptionally well and beyond our expectations. We continue to see very solid bookings. We anticipate that at the end of this quarter and as we head into the summer, we will start to see the number of actual room nights that are occupied pick up. As you know, convention here's typically don't have reluctance to book right around the time of opens of convention centers, because of the risk of delay to their project. But now that we've been open for five or six months those are starting to come in. And the feedback, we're getting continues to be very strong. The demand as we have mentioned before is also very strong in the Northeast corridor, and so we expect this project to be a very high-return, high-value projects for both the Harrah's Atlantic City and for the city.

My last question just has to do with margins, I guess, going into 2016. I know you had cited in one of the slides that you had inflationary cost pressures, but I know you also said margins were up so far. So I guess is there any guidance you can give with regards to what kind of additional improvement you can get from here?

I think we did say that we expected margin expansion, that's probably as aggressive as we want to get at this point in the year, given that the economy and other factors come into place. So we'll just feel good about our performance to date and feel positive enough to say that we expect margin expansion during the year.

Your next question comes from the line of David Farber from Credit Suisse.

I had a couple of questions. I wanted to just touch first in Las Vegas. It appears you're sort of on [ph] parity now with the strip in ADR after a number of years of lagging. So I was curious to hear how much more you think you can drive RevPAR in the Vegas portfolio? And maybe somewhat related to that is what your outlook is for Vegas RevPAR at '16? And then I had a couple of follow-ups.

Sure. We don't provide direct guidance, Dave, so I'll pass on that question. But what I can say is that our ADR increases despite having them been quite rapid over the last three years, we're still below our 2007 peak level. We're also below that of our peer set, when we look at our comparable assets. We believe there are a number of factors that drive that. Some are our operational efforts that we're undertaking to improve that, but others are capital-intensive, as we've mentioned and we're addressing the capital as Mark mentioned over the next three to four years and trying to improve the operational aspects that would help us get up to parity as quickly as we can.

The presentation has I think $350 million of incremental EBITDA related to cost savings and a lot of the marketing efficiencies. I was curious, if you think there is substantially more savings to come in your finding over the year? And what your thoughts are there? And then I had one last question.

I think that we are focused on improving productivity every year in the company. So we're developing a culture, where we try every year to figure out how to be more efficient. And this is why we had a great last year. Obviously, the rate of improvement is going to slow. But we still expect to find efficiency in our operations. We've got plans to do so. And we think we can find more ways to be efficient both in operations as well as in the marketing area and have plans to do so. We have a healthy set of initiatives this year that are offsetting those inflationary pressures that normal businesses have, and as well as the growth that we have planned for this year. So yes, we're feeling pretty good about productivity and hopefully this will be something that we'll be able to talk to for years to come.

My last question, I was just curious, if you guys consider any bond buybacks in entities outside of CEOC given some of the returns potentially there versus some other uses of capital, any thoughts there given where paper is trading currently? And that's it from me.

Yes. I think unfortunately, David, we can't address that question either talking about the capital structure at this point. We'll pass and you'll have to wait until we're done with the restructuring to really address any other capital structure questions.

There are no further questions at this time. I turn the call back over to Brian Blackman for final comments. End of Q&A

Well, we'd like to just wrap up and thank everyone for joining us on today's call. And we look forward to checking back in for our first quarter in a few months. Thank you very much.

Thank you for joining us. This does conclude our webcast. You may now disconnect. Have a good day.