Caesars reports ‘strong’ interactive growth in first quarter

Caesars Acquisition Company has cited a ‘strong’ performance by its Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) business as one of the main reasons behind a year-on-year jump in net revenue during the three months through to March 31, 2016.

Revenue in the first quarter amounted to $643.6 million (€563.8 million), which represents an increase of 13.6% on the $566.6 million posted in the same period last year.

Caesars noted that revenue from its CIE arm increased by 29% year-on-year in the period to $227.8 million, with the firm’s casino properties and developments also generating $415.8 million in revenue, up 6.6% on the previous year.

In addition, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation jumped 31.5% from $148 million to $194.6 million, although the firm did suffer a drop in net income, which fell 74.4% from $144.1 million to $36.9 million.

Caesars also said that income from operations fell 43.4% year-on-year to $115.9 million.

In a statement, Caesars added: “The increase in revenue for Caesars Interactive was primarily driven by strong organic growth in the social and mobile games operating unit due to the continued focus on conversion and monetisation.

“The decrease in income from operations was primarily driven by the change in the fair value of contingently issuable non-voting membership units recognised in the prior year with no change in the fair value of contingently issuable non-voting membership units recognised subsequent to December 31, 2015, offset by the income impact of increased revenues.

“Excluding the impact of the change in fair value of contingently issuable non-voting membership units, income from operations increased by $28.7 million, primarily due to the year-over-year growth in CIE and Horseshoe Baltimore, as well as the availability of rooms and increased room rates as a result of renovations at The LINQ Hotel & Casino.”

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