Earnings Labs

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (CZR)

Q1 2016 Earnings Call· Thu, May 5, 2016

$27.57

-1.66%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, and welcome to today's webcast. My name is Ian, and I'll be your event specialist today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Please note that today’s webcast is being recorded. We will have a question-and-answer session at the end of today’s presentation, and instructions on how to ask a question will be given at the appropriate time. [Operator Instructions]. It is now my pleasure to turn today's program over to Brian Blackman, Vice President, Investor Relations with Caesars Entertainment. Brian, the floor is yours.

Brian Blackman

Analyst

Good afternoon, and welcome to Caesars Entertainment First Quarter 2016 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 Web site 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 quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2016. Before we get underway, I would like to call your attention to certain statements and information on slides 1 through 4, which we incorporate by this reference. Forward-looking statements, Safe Harbor disclaimer and our public documents cover 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 use 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. Definitions of these non-GAAP measures, reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures and the reasons management believe these measures provided useful information for investors can be found on Slide 3 and in the appendix to this presentation, beginning on Slide 26. As…

Mark Frissora

Analyst

Thank you, Brian. I’m pleased to report that Caesars Entertainment delivered another strong first quarter in 2016 building on last year’s great results. Starting on Slide 6, net revenues for continuing CEC, which excludes CEOC, increased 7% to $1.2 billion and adjusted EBITDA grew 16% to $349 million. Our first quarter results include a $237 million charge related to the restructuring of CEOC. Eric will provide more details on our financial results in his prepared remarks. Looking more broadly at enterprise-wide performance, which adds CEOC to CEC, net revenues grew 4% to $2.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to $653 million. Enterprise-wide adjusted EBITDA margins expanded 263 basis points in the first quarter to 28.5%, a first quarter historical record for the enterprise as adjusted EBITDA margins were 200 basis points higher than 2007. As I have discussed in past quarters, we are focused on a balanced strategy of increasing margins and cash flows through both revenue growth and efficiency initiatives while simultaneously driving even higher levels of employee engagement and customer satisfaction. We achieved these objectives in the first quarter by delivering improved financial performance as well as solid year-over-year gains in customer service scores. Many of the drivers that we have talked about over the past four quarters continued to improve enterprise-wide performance this quarter. The Interactive Entertainment business continued to grow revenue and profit, due to a combination of increased unique paying users and growth in average revenue per user. Another key contributor to our top line growth was a strong increase in lodging revenues, particularly at the LINQ Hotel. Enterprise-wide cash ADR rose 9% due to an increase in resort fees, improved hotel yield and greater pricing power as a result of our reinvestment in the hotel product, particularly on the Las Vegas strip. Additionally,…

Eric Hession

Analyst

Thank you, Mark. I’ll start with a review of continuing CEC’s consolidated results followed by a review of the company’s reportable segments and supplemental information, which include CEOC’s performance as well as continuing CEC plus CEOC results. Slide 16 summarizes continuing CEC’s results, which does not include CEOC as it is no longer consolidated. For the first quarter of 2016, continuing CEC net revenues rose 7% to $1.2 billion and adjusted EBITDA grew 16% to 349 million with a margin increase of 239 basis points. This translated into a diluted loss per share for continuing CEC of approximately $2.12 compared to a diluted earnings per share of $46.12 in the year ago period. Earnings performance was primarily attributable to the deconsolidation of CEOC in the first quarter of 2015 and an additional accrual of 237 million in the current quarter related to CEC’s estimate of the amount it will pay to support the restructuring of CEOC as negotiations among all parties associated with the restructuring are ongoing, this amount will likely change. As such, we believe our operational performance is best represented by the strong improvement in adjusted EBITDA. Revenue in the quarter was driven primarily by organic growth in the social and mobile games within our Interactive Entertainment business and strong hospitality growth, particularly in Las Vegas. This was partially offset by lower gaming volumes with the non-Las Vegas properties and an unfavorable hold impact on a year-over-year basis. On the hospitality side, the business experienced a 12% increase in room revenues mainly due to the growth at the LINQ Hotel. Cash ADR grew 10% as a result of improved hotel yield, increases in cash resort fees following the expansion to all properties in 2015 and a stronger pricing environment in Las Vegas. We also saw increased demand for…

Mark Frissora

Analyst

Thanks, Eric. Summarizing our discussion on Slide 25, we are pleased with this quarter’s adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin growth, and our ability to drive operational growth and efficiency year-over-year. Hospitality was the primary driver of revenue growth in the quarter. We expect hospitality to remain a business driver as our upgraded room products come online and as positive Las Vegas trends are projected to continue. That said, we recognize the importance of enhancing core gaming growth and we are focused on offering more compelling gaming products in new and exciting environments. Furthermore, our marketing and operational efficiency initiatives have established a baseline for our business. As we ramp up our lean efficiency program in 2016, we will identify incremental and sustainable process efficiencies, which will also enable us to upgrade the customer experience and enhance employee engagement. Looking briefly at April, the business performed well, particularly in Las Vegas driven by strong hotel demand. As we move to the second quarter, we continue to focus on margin management through the implementation of continuous improvement techniques and an acceleration of our revenue initiatives. As always, amid the backdrop of ongoing restructuring efforts at CEOC, we are focused on operating as efficiently as possible to maximize value for all stakeholders. We will now open up the line for Q&A. We’d ask that you keep your questions focused on the business performance. Operator?

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from the line of Susan Berliner with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Susan Berliner

Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon.

Mark Frissora

Analyst

Hi, Susan.

Susan Berliner

Analyst

So I wanted to start with I guess CapEx spend at the various entities for the quarter and I guess specifically on CERP as well – if you can give it for all three, but specifically on CERP, can you talk about the impact from room renovations? Can you quantify that at all and also help us think about the rest of the year?

Mark Frissora

Analyst

Sure, Sue. From an impact standpoint, we did have a large quantity of rooms out of order due to the renovations primarily at Caesars Palace and at Harrah’s Las Vegas. We didn’t quantify the impact of that but we obviously tried to mitigate it through revenue management techniques. It was, however, in our view slightly larger than we had originally anticipated. And as we move throughout the year, we’re going to learn from the revenue management opportunities to ensure that that doesn’t repeat itself in future quarters. From a CapEx standpoint, you’ll see on the CapEx that we guided by credit, we did reduce our CapEx guidance slightly for CERP and CGP mainly due to timing. Also CES, we reduced fairly significantly and on that what we’re realizing is that a lot of the information technology initiatives are moving from posted initiatives into cloud-based solutions, so they’re more expense oriented than capital. And then CEOC was largely the same, slightly higher than we had projected at the end of the quarter.

Susan Berliner

Analyst

And can you give us the actual amounts you spent at each entity?

Jacqueline Beato

Analyst

Yes. Hi, Sue. It’s Jacquie. How are you?

Susan Berliner

Analyst

Good, Jacquie. Welcome back.

Jacqueline Beato

Analyst

Thanks. CERP were at 26.5, CGP 18.9, CES 4.7.

Susan Berliner

Analyst

Great. And then I didn’t see – I saw you guys put revolver balances but I didn’t see actual debt balances and I guess specifically for CERP, the cash came in a lot higher. So I guess if you could help us with what the debt balances were at least at CERP and CGPH? And why is the cash balance I guess so much higher? I know you have that coupon payment but I’m assuming you had [indiscernible] during the quarter?

Eric Hession

Analyst

Yes, Sue, this is Eric. The amortization would have been the only reductions in the debt balances other than revolver repayments that you can see. I think you’re probably referring to the ECF offer --

Susan Berliner

Analyst

Yes.

Eric Hession

Analyst

And we did not make any ECF repurchases due to the calculation and in particular the fact that it included committed CapEx that’s anticipated to be spent in 2016 and future years. So that’s the reason why ECF payments weren’t required. We’ll use the cash, as we’ve talked about, for reinvestment in our facilities and also to pay down our revolver and such.

Susan Berliner

Analyst

Okay, great. So I guess the debt balance is just the revolver and the terms on amortization that’s it. That would be the only change.

Eric Hession

Analyst

That’s correct.

Susan Berliner

Analyst

Okay, great. I’ll get back in line. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. There are no further questions at this time.

Mark Frissora

Analyst

Operator, thank you very much. I’d like to thank everyone for joining us on today’s first quarter results call and we look forward to joining you for the second quarter report later on in a few months. Thank you very much.