Earnings Labs

Century Casinos, Inc. (CNTY)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Sun, May 10, 2015

$1.42

+1.43%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to Century Casinos Q1 2015 Earnings Conference Call. This call will be recorded. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. I would like to introduce our host for today's call, Mr. Peter Hoetzinger. Mr. Hoetzinger, you may begin.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Thank you, operator and welcome everyone to our first quarter 2015 earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are my Co-CEO and Chairman of the Company, Erwin Haitzmann; as well as our Executive Vice President of Finance, Margaret Stapleton. Before we begin, I need to remind you that in our remarks today we will be discussing forward-looking information, which involves a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We provide a detailed discussion of the various risk factors in our SEC filings and encourage you to review these filings. In addition, throughout our call, we may refer to several non-GAAP financial measures, including but not limited to adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliations of our non-GAAP performance and liquidity measures to the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our news release from this morning and in the 10-Q filings, which is available in the Investor Section of our website at cnty.com. I will now comment on the results. What a great quarter, what a great start into 2015. Congratulations to the entire Century Casinos team for delivering an excellent performance at pretty much all properties and at all levels. Our ongoing focus on enhancing operating efficiencies and maintaining disciplined approach to marketing pays off very well. We've all seen the results, there are a few highlights; adjusted EBITDA up 72%, net earnings up 262%, $0.08 earnings per share which is 4X more than a year ago. EBITDA margins at our largest casinos, Century Casino and Hotel Edmonton at a record 41%. Adjusted EBITDA up 71% and 64% at our two properties in Colorado, adjusted EBITDA in Poland…

Operator

Operator

Your first question comes from the line of Robert Magic of CJS Securities. Your line is open.

Robert Magic

Analyst · CJS Securities. Your line is open

Good morning, and congrats on the quarter.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Thanks, Robert.

Robert Magic

Analyst · CJS Securities. Your line is open

On the Resino [ph], and I understand it's only been one month but can you give us an update on whether you are meeting or exceeding your initial expectations?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

The casino opened on April 1 to huge crowds and we had wonderful first week. And overall we are absolutely meeting our expectations, that weekends are very busy when the racing is going on and we certainly see that the overall drastic is fantastic with the racing, so both products, the casino and the racing complemented each other and benefit each other.

Robert Magic

Analyst · CJS Securities. Your line is open

That's great to hear. And could you give us some more color on any changes in the competitive landscape in Colorado and what is driving your share gains there?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

There is no news in terms of new entrants. The Riviera and Black Hawk is increasing capacity to construction site at the moment to certain extent, it is a very competitive market but no new entrants. And just in the case, typically that there are few quarters where gain market share, and there might be an aggressive competitor taking away little bit of market share. But we see the overall trends, not only for our properties but for all three gaming towns in Colorado is rather positive, it keeps the momentum that it has started mid of last year, and our organization is now streamlined and efficient enough to fully take advantage of the increases in revenue even though they are - they might only be single digit, we can bring over proportionally high amounts to the EBITDA and bottom lines.

Robert Magic

Analyst · CJS Securities. Your line is open

That's helpful. And as you did last quarter, can you give us an update on trends and falls for the second quarter?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Come again, please?

Robert Magic

Analyst · CJS Securities. Your line is open

As you did last quarter, can you give us an update on trends in Poland for the second quarter?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Poland, as you know from the history, the second and the third quarter are typically the slower periods in Poland as the weather gets nice and warmer. And the casino business is going down slightly, so Q4 and Q1 are typically the stronger quarters. We are entering that seasonal, we are also seeing some volatility because quite a significant portion of our performance depends on VIP play which we can only influence to a certain extent. So it's a little bit too early to say in terms of the second quarter because on the one or two weeks can change a lot. But overall, the business is good, the properties are in good shape, and we look forward to getting more into the second quarter to be able to get a better view on the outcome.

Robert Magic

Analyst · CJS Securities. Your line is open

I appreciate the detail, thank you.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Thanks, Robert.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Christensen of Craig-Hallum Capital. Your line is open.

Alex Christensen

Analyst · Alex Christensen of Craig-Hallum Capital. Your line is open

Congratulations on the quarter, I had a couple of other questions regarding Poland, first off, I was wondering what you're seeing in terms of Russian Play coming into Poland, I know that you've mentioned in the past that it can be significant and with the volatility coming in that Russian economy, just wondering what you're seeing there, as well as how the progress on closing out the unlicensed gameplay outside of your casinos is going? Thanks.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

It did not have any significant VIP play from Russians in Q1. So that very good result was generated pretty much without that. But we had VIP play from other parts of Europe and the Middle East. The closing of the slot machine parlors is continuing, every now and then we hear about some entities but it's - so far it's not a significant issue, it hasn't really changed over the last two months. So on December 31, at the end of this year, we should see all those street machines and slots outside of casinos eliminated, we are giving upfront, we have already increased our slot capacity and we further increase by another 5% to 10% before the end of the year. And slot play also significant contributor to the increased revenue, so we already see it happening that we are benefiting from that legal situation.

Alex Christensen

Analyst · Alex Christensen of Craig-Hallum Capital. Your line is open

Okay, that's great. And then just one follow-up on Canada and specifically, since it's down, I know you guys are still ramping up there, but it sounds like you're also - from a margin perspective, that should be accretive to your Canada segment but I was just wondering if we could get a feel for how you see those two different dynamics playing out and when that accretive part is going to start outweighing the ramp up?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Well, it's a high level answer before I turn over it over to Erwin. I would say that the rent up typically takes out two quarters to fine tune the operational side and also get the topline right. But it should be accretive pretty much from day one. Erwin, anything to add?

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Alex Christensen of Craig-Hallum Capital. Your line is open

No, I think that sums it up brilliant. I think it's accretive now already.

Alex Christensen

Analyst · Alex Christensen of Craig-Hallum Capital. Your line is open

Great, thank you guys and look forward to talking again next quarter.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Meyer of Brain Capital [ph]. Your line is open.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Good morning, Peter, really good to see margins heading higher, long time coming but I think investors will be appreciative. Can you - have you guys done an analysis on what the strong dollar impact was on your EBITDA in the quarter?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

On the consolidated basis, Ted, do you have that number?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst

No, we really don't - we look at each operation in their local currency. So it does impact - the strong U.S. dollar has impacted negatively our EBITDA but I don't really have a number of what that is. Brian, if you want to call me later, I can get it for you.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Yes, I will. Just - when we see Poland revenues in local currency is up 33%, one's got to believe that impact on your U.S. EBITDA was probably fairly material. Also, and maybe I missed this but it seems like you're not reporting as opposed to on a property level basis, is that correct or can we find the property stuff somewhere else?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes, we've posted a presentation on our website that goes into more detail about each property we've done that in advance for this call.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay, but are you planning a shift towards regional presentation as opposed to individuals or we just need to go to website to get that info.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes, probably - we are probably planning a shift.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay. And do you have a win per slot per day number for Century Downs in your first month, just so we can build our models off of something or would you suggest just going with the Alberta average for now?

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Alex Christensen of Craig-Hallum Capital. Your line is open

Yes, hi, this is Erwin. I think - you're on the safe side if you go within further average and we don't exclude that we might end up higher.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay, great. And then lastly, Peter, I know you're constantly scavering [ph] the world for new opportunities, is there anything that's catching your eye at this point and then I'll hand off to the next person.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes, couple of things has caught my eye. But we are not yet…

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

But not going to elaborate?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Or that catch your eye, right.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Alright, thanks a lot Peter.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions.