Operator
Operator
Welcome to the Full House Resorts Fourth Quarter 2007 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to William Schmitt, Investor Relations for ICR. Please go ahead, sir.
Full House Resorts, Inc. (FLL)
Q4 2007 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 27, 2008
$2.40
+0.00%
Same-Day
+2.03%
1 Week
+18.24%
1 Month
+38.51%
vs S&P
+33.35%
Operator
Operator
Welcome to the Full House Resorts Fourth Quarter 2007 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to William Schmitt, Investor Relations for ICR. Please go ahead, sir.
William Schmitt
Investor Relations
Thank you, Eric; and good morning, everyone. By now everyone should have access to our earnings announcement which we released earlier today on Form 10-K which was filed last night. These may also be found on our website at Fullhousereorts.com under the Investor Section. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion today may include forward-looking statements. These statements are guarantees of future performance and therefore undo reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer all of you to our recent filings with the SEC for a more detail discussion of the risks that could impact the future operating results and financial condition of Full House Resorts. With that, I would like to now introduce Andre Hilliou, CEO of Full House Resorts. Andre.
Andre Hilliou
CEO
Thank you, Bill. Here with me today is Mark Miller, our CFO, who will discuss our financial results for the quarter. But first I wanted to go over a few key highlights from the first quarter in early ’08 to bring you to speed on the Full House story and where we stand. First, I want to briefly discuss our long-term strategy. Going forward, Full House will continue to pursue (inaudible) to purchase casinos that meet our standards. We look to be an opportunistic strategic buyer to that, and we are seeking casinos that are able to be purchased at the right multiple either market leaders or have the potential to be a market leader and have good management waiting to remain with the property. There are many properties to look at, and we believe financing on favorable terms will be available for well-established and moderately priced acquisitions. We believe that the current uncertainty and turmoil in the credit market is an advantage for well financed strategic buyers, such as ourselves, and should be viewed as a strength in negotiating a transaction with a seller. Moving on to a development project: On December 14th, we received approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission for our Gaming Management Contract for the FireKeepers’ Casino to be built near Battle Creek, Michigan, clearing the last major legal and regulatory hurdle to the project. Since that time, the tribe has engaged the construction manager substantially completed the design document and executed guaranteed maximum price contract for the project construction. Further, steel orders have been placed to secure long lead items. ADM, a 50% owned venture of Full House has identified the general manager who will join the project as soon as the financing is in place. Our top priority right now is to assist…
Mark Miller
CFO
Thank you, Andre. I’d like to quickly review a few highlights of our financial performance for this quarter and then we’ll be happy to respond to any questions you may have at the end of our prepared remarks. For the 3 months ended December 31, 2007, income from operations fell slightly to approximately $493,000 compared to $515 in the prior year period with the Company recording net income of approximately $8,600 compared to approximately $244,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006. For the fourth quarter ended December 31st, earnings per share was flat compared to earnings per share of $0.02 in the prior year period based on diluted common shares outstanding of 19.3 million and 11 million respectively. As Andre mentioned, we recorded an impairment loss of approximately $407,000 related to the Nambé and Manuelito projects. Exclusive of the impairment loss, net income for the quarter would’ve been approximately $277,000 or about $0.01.4, which would’ve been comparable with the prior year. It should also be noted that we booked substantially less in unrealized gains on tribal receivables this year than last, which has impacted net income both for the quarter and the full year. We would note that the main reason for the decrease in these metrics was the $407,000 impairment charge for the discontinuation of the Nambé casino project and the Manuelito project also located in New Mexico. With regard to the latter, the land that Full House was holding for a potential casino project with the Manuelito Chapter of the Navajo Nation is now classified in other assets and we are pursing the sale of that land. The cost basis of that land is approximately is $130,000. Stockman’s Casino, which we acquired in January 2007, contributed approximately $2.2 million and $9 million in revenue for the 3-month and…
Andre Hilliou
Operator
Thank you, Mark. Before turning it over to questions, we just wanted to briefly reiterate the Full House story and our strategy. While we have moved back the expected opening date for FireKeepers, we are very pleased that we received final NIGC approval, which we believe was the largest remaining obstacle in that path and we have had made significant progress in preparing to actually begin construction of the facility. We look forward to obtaining financing and beginning construction in the near future on our number one priority. Meanwhile we are pleased, the progress of Stockman’s and the lock-in equity income we will receive over the next few years from Harrington Raceway and Casino. Long-term, our goal is to own and develop market leading local casinos similar to Stockman’s. We continue to investigate potential acquisition and management project, but we will only act on the opportunities that are the right multiples and can provide long-term value for Full House and our shareholders. Thank you for your time today, and I will now open the call for questions.
Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Stuart Vaughn with Vander Capital. Please go ahead. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Good morning, guys. Mark, can you just tell me what the amount, the undiscounted amount of the note receivable due from Michigan is?
Mark Miller
CFO
It’s $14.2 million, Stuart. I would just remind you that that is not all Full House’s receivable. Some of that money is, it will be ultimately paid to RAM. It’s not a 50/50 sharing of that $14.2 million. But the total undiscounted note from the tribe is $14.2 million. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: How much of that is due to Full House?
Mark Miller
CFO
Probably, Stuart, somewhere between $9 and $10. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Undiscounted?
Mark Miller
CFO
Undiscounted. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: So if the financing, once the financing is in place, when that happens, you would anticipate receiving that $9 to $10 million in a lump sum?
Mark Miller
CFO
Well I think, Stuart, that is the plan would be for the tribe to be able to repay to GEM the entire receivable out of a financing transaction. But until a financing transaction is completed, we’re not absolutely sure that we would be able to get it all out. Do you follow me? Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Yes sir.
Mark Miller
CFO
So I don’t want to give any absolute assurances that tribal receivable would be fully repaid, but that is our objective. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: The $9.5 million that you booked on your, in long-term debt for the Green Acre transaction, that just an accounting mechanism where you had to recognize the whole $9.5 as opposed to your only on the hook for half of that, right?
Mark Miller
CFO
That’s correct because GEM is a consolidated entity for us. It all shows up on our books, that’s correct. But that obligation is shared on a 50/50 basis between us and RAM. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Thank you.
Operator
Operator
(Operator Instructions) The next question comes from Justin Sebastiano with Morgan Joseph; please go ahead. Justin Sebastiano – Morgan Joseph : Morning, guys. For the notes receivable, the interest that’s accrued on that, is that in that number, that $9 to $10 million you’re talking about that you could receive if the tribe does get the financing.
Mark Miller
CFO
The way the interest works on that note, Justin, is it’s kind of on an element-by-element basis. Some of that $14.2 million was used to acquire the land and interest accrued on that piece of it until we turn the land over to the federal government for it to go into trust. So there is some accrued interest in there on that, but we stopped accruing interest when the land was turned over to go into trust. The rest of the note does not accrue interest until the casino opens, so it’s only if we don’t get repaid out of the financing, and the note ultimately gets repaid out of operating cash flows. That interest would accrue on that. So other than the land piece, there’s no accrued interest in that $14.2 million and there wouldn’t be any until after opening. Justin Sebastiano – Morgan Joseph : Understood. Then as far as the advances from New Mexico, I mean I know it’s a very small amount, but you said the tribe knows they’re going to have to pay you back but at a negotiable term. So does that mean that you expect to get less than $655,000?
Mark Miller
CFO
No, we expect to get the $655. I think that what the agreement provides for is that it will get repaid out of gaming revenues and the tribe has indicated that they’re going to pursue a smaller development with another developer. We do not know all the details of that yet as to what exactly what it’s going to be and when it’s going to be opened, what we can expect from a revenue stream. So ultimately once we know those pieces, we’re going to have to sit down with them and negotiate a repayment schedule, and we just don’t know what that is yet. Justin Sebastiano – Morgan Joseph : So I assume that there will be interest on top of that something like prime plus a margin or something?
Mark Miller
CFO
The agreement does call for some interest. Again, I expected that will be sort of a negotiated term. I would note that the $655 is the undiscounted value. We have a discount against that in our books. It’s currently valued at, I don’t remember the exact amount but it’s right around $0.5 million. But anyway, we expect to have those negotiation with the Pueblo. Justin Sebastiano – Morgan Joseph : All right, thanks a lot, guys.
Operator
Operator
Our next question comes from Nick Dano with Sterne Agee; please go ahead. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: Good morning. My question related to the final GMP, if you could share with this the final cost and any scope changes from the last press release from you guys or the tribe?
Mark Miller
CFO
Nick, we haven’t publicly disclosed the contract value of those GMP contracts. I can tell you that, and it’s really not ours to disclose. That’s the tribe’s agreement. We’re not a party to that agreement. But I will tell you that there have been no scope changes. The project is still expected to be 2,500 slot machines, 90 table games, 20 pokers, and slightly under 2,100 car parking garage, 5 restaurants, 3 bars, so none of that has changed. I guess I can just tell you that generally the cost of the hard construction, the GMPs is not substantially different from what we had anticipated previously. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: That’s fair. I just saw the $330 million I think was in the 10-K and I didn’t know what else that may include.
Mark Miller
CFO
Yeah, most of the… You’re talking about the change from the previous estimate of $270 to $330, almost of that change is related to increases in financing costs that are anticipated given the changes in the credit market. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: Understood. Just sort of a modeling question: Depreciation in the quarter was obviously very low I’m assuming because the hotel was excluded. Will it be that low going forward or is there anything else in there that…
Mark Miller
CFO
It’ll be a little bit more than that because there were some adjustments related to the Holiday Inn sale. We made some purchase price adjustments. I don’t have in front of me right this second exactly what it’ll be on a go forward basis, but it’ll be a little bit more than that. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: Understood. Thanks, guys.
Mark Miller
CFO
It’ll be substantially less though because that Holiday Inn had a pretty high depreciation basis. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: Yeah, that’s what I would’ve assumed. Thank you.
Operator
Operator
Our next question is a follow-up from Stuart Vaughn; please go ahead. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Is there any recovery from the Navaho project other than the $130,000 value of the land that you bought there?
Mark Miller
CFO
This is Stuart? Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Yes sir.
Mark Miller
CFO
You’re talking about against the contract rights? We do not believe that we’ll have any meaningful recovery against those contract rights. It was approximately $200,000 and we have written it completely off. The reason principally, Stuart, is the indications from the nation is that they’re not going to pursue a gaming development in that area at least not for a very long time and therefore there probably is not going to be any gaming revenues that we would be able to recover against which is kind of the basis of the agreement. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Understood. How many acres is it that you own there?
Mark Miller
CFO
It’s 10 or 12 acres; I’m not exactly sure the exact number of acres, but it’s about 10 or 12 acres. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: What do you anticipate the end use of that land to be in terms of finding a potential seller? Is that potential residential land or commercial?
Mark Miller
CFO
Commercial. We really don’t know right now. We’ve just begun sort of the sales process. I think that sometime during the next couple of months, we’re going to get a good feel for that land could be used for and what our options are for disposing of it. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Great. Any thoughts to a share buyback?
Mark Miller
CFO
Well we’ve had this conversation a couple of times. I can just tell you that it is a matter of discussion; it is matter of something that we’re looking at. Again, it’s the best use of our cash. The two significant options right now would be a share back or an acquisition. We continue to be very active in looking for acquisitions. That is the primary focus of the management team and the Board, but we do have periodic discussions with the Board regarding a share buyback. That’s about all I can tell you at this point. Stuart Vaughn – Vander Capital: Thank you, gentlemen.
Operator
Operator
We have a follow-up question from Nick Dano; please go ahead. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: Sorry, two other things for me. One is for the Delaware agreement, does the 8% increase, is that going to be done very quarter or will there be sort of a true-up at the end of ’08?
Mark Miller
CFO
No, the agreement calls for quarterly true-ups. So we have had 2 true-ups so far. We have the third quarter true-up and the fourth quarter true-up for 2007 and then we’ll move forward. They’re quarterly true-ups. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: Regarding, as a follow-up to the question about the buyback, in terms of the agreement that you have with your banks, is that a possibility? Would it just be a matter of getting Board approval or would there need to be any amendments or changes to the bank agreements to be able to make that happen?
Mark Miller
CFO
It would just be a matter of Board approval. Nick Dano – Sterne Agee: All right, thank you.
Operator
Operator
At this time, I’m showing no additional questions in the queue. I’d like to turn the call back over to management for any concluding remarks they may have.
Andre Hilliou
Operator
Well we would like to thank everyone for their participation on the call today and for their support as we continue pursuing growth on behalf of our shareholders. With that, we will end the call and wish all of you a great rest of the day. Thank you.
Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Full House Resorts Fourth Quarter 2007 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect, and we thank for using ACT Conferencing.