Melco records Q1 revenue decrease but losses shrink following lower costs
Casino gaming proved to be its biggest source of revenue by generating $433.8m, although this was down 39.1% from last year.
Rooms contributed $39.7m and food and beverage $26.1m, while entertainment, retail and other revenues came to $19.4m.
Despite seeing a 35.3% decrease on last year’s numbers, City of Dreams continues to be Melco’s best performing casino – recording total operating revenue of $302.5m.
The City of Dreams Manila location, meanwhile, took $79.5m.
Altira Macau saw an even sharper drop off, with its $14.3m revenue for 2021 being 73.0% less than last year’s $52.9m sum.
Studio City brought in $97.9m while the operator’s smaller Mocha Clubs throughout Macau contributed $17.8m – both down from last year.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was a substantial blow to Melco’s casinos, with pandemic-imposed travel restrictions having an adverse affect on business.
Melco chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho said: “COVID-19 and the subsequent travel restrictions continue to have a significant negative impact on our operating and financial performance. Despite these challenges, our integrated resorts experienced a moderate recovery in business levels during the first quarter.”
Melco was able to cut operating expenses by 29.1%, reducing them to $681.7m from $961.1m.
Casinos were the biggest expenditure at $366.9m, but this was down 35.0%. General and administrative costs totaled $108.2m, down 17.6%. Depreciation and amortisation also cost the company $121.0m, 14.4% less than in 2020.
Because of this, operating losses for the company came to $162.8m, up by 8.6% from 2020, while it incurred a further $114.0m in non-operating costs, down 56.2%. This decline in non-operating expenses was mostly due to a $179.3m expense classed as an other non-operating cost in 2020.
Overall Merco posted a net loss of $277.5m, which is $128.5m less than 2020.
Ho added: “Melco is currently actively engaged with multiple potential partners. We will continue to be patient as we
navigate the landscape to ensure that Melco pursues the right opportunity that takes advantage of Melco’s core strengths to drive strong value creation.”