Baccarat Play Boosts MGM Mirage Despite CityCenter Write-Down

MGM Mirage announced on May 6th, 2010 that an $86 million dollars write-down on residences at its $8.5 billion dollars CityCenter joint collaboration contributed to a loss in the 1st quarter.

The group said that its total loss is $96.7 million dollars or twenty-cents per share, compared with the net income of $105.2 million dollars or thirty-eight cents per share during the 1st quarter of 2009.

Excluding a monetary gain on the cancellation of debt of twenty-one cents per share and a charge of thirteen cents per share on CityCenter, MGM Mirage's net loss totaled fourteen cents per share. Revenue dropped by three percent to $1.46 billion dollars. Results were similar with MGM Mirage's announcement of its 1st quarter results in April.

CityCenter's value, a joint collaboration with the government of Dubai, had to be reviewed after a drop in the real estate market of Nevada. MGM Mirage said that its gaming revenue dropped five percent to $610,757 dollars, though the group was given a boost by the seventeen percent increase in baccarat play especially during the Chinese New Year celebrations in February 2010.

Food, beverage, room, retail, entertainment and other revenues were all down compared with the previous year. On the Strip, rooms at the group's resorts averaged nightly rates of $111 dollars and were eighty-five percent full, compared with the eighty-seven percent occupancy rate last year at $118 dollars per night.

MGM Mirage said that the Aria Resort and Casino, the centerpiece of the CityCenter, lost sixty-six million dollars during its 1st full quarter. Its hotel rooms were sixty-three percent occupied at an average rate of $194 dollars per night.

MGM Mirage Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren said that Aria's conference bookings were slowly improving for the rest of the year, which he expected to boost its occupancy.

The Bellagio, which is located near the CityCenter on the Strip, was down compared with last year but still nearly ninety-one percent full at $199 dollars per night during the 1st quarter.

The group said that it had $13 billion dollars in total debt as of March 31st, including $845 million dollars in new notes released in March that were utilized to pay down the debt due earlier. Shares of MGM Mirage fell twenty-seven cents or 1.8%, to $14.67 dollars in morning trading.

News Released: Saturday, July 31, 2010
John Palmer