Wynn Resorts has reported a significant hit during the year’s first quarter with revenues dropping almost fifty per cent and losses plummeting to almost half a million dollars.
The Las Vegas headquartered casino developer and operator asserted that staff will receive full wage and benefits throughout this month, with a “detailed reopening plan” also having been in place since April 19 as the company aims to “play a leadership role in the industry’s re-emergence”.
Operating revenue for the firm was $953.7m for the first quarter of 2020, representing a decrease of 42.3 per cent from $1.65bn, as net loss swung to $450.2m from a profit of $104.8m.
Adjusted EBITDA was -$5.3m (2019: $494.8m) for the period, which includes the impact of $75.7 million of expense accrued during the quarter related to our commitment to pay salary, tips and benefits continuation for all of our US employees for the period from April 1 through May 15, 2020.
“Our leadership team has been working side-by-side with our host communities, fellow industry leaders and world-class medical experts to identify and implement strategies to mitigate the impact of the virus on our team members, our guests and our broader communities,” explained Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts.
“In mid-March we led the industry by identifying the need for short-term closure in Las Vegas and Boston, thereby doing our part to ‘flatten the curve.’ Concurrently, we decided to invest in the health and safety of our approximately 30,000 team members globally by committing to pay their full wages and benefits through May.
“We continue to play a leadership role in the industry’s re-emergence, most recently producing a detailed reopening plan on April 19, developed in consultation with medical experts from Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities, which we believe will be the gold standard for sanitisation and customer safety.
“At the same time, we have also been focused on our long-term business prospects, taking steps to bolster our already strong liquidity position by opportunistically issuing $600m of unsecured notes and increasing our financial flexibility.
“While the current environment is clearly challenging, we are confident that travel and tourism will recover in both the US and China, and our industry leading assets, fortress balance sheet and talented team members position the company to thrive in the years ahead.”
Casino operations at Wynn Palace and Wynn Macau, closed for a 15-day period in February 2020, resumed operations on a reduced basis on February 20, 2020, with certain public health safeguards.
These include traveller quarantines, limiting the number of seats per table game, slot machine spacing, temperature checks, mask protection, and health declarations remain in effect at the present time. It is as yet undetermined when these measures will be lifted.
Operating revenue at the Palace fell 64.3 per cent to $259.5m (2019: $726.6m), with its sister property dropping 56.2 per cent from $523.9 to $229.5m.
Las Vegas operations, which ceased and closed to the public on March 17, 2020, and will remain closed until authorised to re-open under US and state government directives, saw revenue decrease 19.3 per cent to $323.8m from $401m.
