Earnings Labs

Century Casinos, Inc. (CNTY)

Q2 2015 Earnings Call· Fri, Aug 7, 2015

$1.42

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Century Casinos second quarter 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 second quarter 2015 earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are my Co-CEO and the Chairman of the company, Erwin Haitzmann; as well as Margaret Stapleton, our Executive Vice President of Finance. 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 filing, which is available in the Investor Section of our website at cnty.com. I will now comment on results of the second quarter. What a great first half of 2015. Already the first quarter showed excellent growth with adjusted EBITDA up 72%, and now this great second quarter. Net operating revenue up 20% and [indiscernible] adjusted EBITDA is up 116% compared to the same quarter a year ago. But the true operational performance is even stronger. Excluding exchange rate swings on a constant currency basis, net operating revenue is up 34% and adjusted EBITDA [indiscernible] up 144%. Net earnings came in at $6.6 million or $0.27 per share. That number was fueled not only by increasingly profitable operations, but also by a one-time gain from the sale of…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Robert Labick from CJS Securities.

Robert Labick

Analyst · CJS Securities

Great margin this quarter, especially at the new racino. Could you talk a little about how stable margins are there and more broadly by geography as well?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes. Erwin, would like to comment on that please, the margins at Century Downs? Erwin? Is Erwin on the line? Okay, so we've lost Erwin. Robert, Century Downs has slots only and slots carry a higher EBITDA margin compared to table games. And that's one of the reasons why the EBITDA margin is higher. On the other hand, obviously we have the racing operation, which doesn't carry higher EBITDA margins, but overall, we believe that we should be able to hold EBITDA margin that are as highest. In Edmonton, it's not that higher as it was in this quarter. So I think, say, around 40% margin, I think is sustainable. Next question please.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital.

Alex Fuhrman

Analyst · Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital

I wanted to ask a little bit about the strength in Poland, where you continue to grow very nicely. I think you had mentioned on the conference call that you've added some new machines to those properties. Is the strength in Poland, I mean how much of that has been driven by the investment you've made in those properties this year versus the shift in the regulatory landscape over there versus just perhaps strength or weakness in the overall market in Poland?

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital

Peter, would you like me to come in?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes.

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital

Peter, would you like me to respond?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes. Please.

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital

Three factors. The first one is that when you refer to the change in the regulatory environment, and you mean the closing of the slot machine casinos, that has certainly helped in a few places. The second influence is the addition of machines and the fact that these new machines are working very well and are well-accepted by the customers. And the third effect is that the cost controls that we have stringently applied around the end of the year are really are taking effects now.

Alex Fuhrman

Analyst · Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital

And then switching gears quickly to Canada, wondering, I mean that obviously makes sense with your Calgary property about what you said about the take rate. I'm wondering though, I mean with results there, you've been forgetting about the take rate issue, is it possible that some of your traffic there and just in terms of overall demand could have been pulled over, given the Century Downs opening and all of the buzz and end-marketing around that opening. So just trying to wonder, I mean I know those are on other ends of town here, but there are potentially some trade-off there as Century Downs ramped up.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Yes, so little bit maybe 1% or 2% on the slot side. Erwin, any more color to that.

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Alex Fuhrman from Craig-Hallum Capital

Actually, it's starting to turn around again, and because the slot revenues are increasing a little bit in old Calgary Casino already. So we could certainly say no influence whatsoever, certainly no negative one.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Bryan Maher.

Bryan Maher

Analyst · Bryan Maher

A quick question, actually two questions. One, in Poland, are there any more thoughts of license relocations or site relocations. I remember in Kraków there might be an opportunity to maybe get a better location, and then the other property in Poland that you have that's currently quasi-closed. Can you address those? And then I have a follow-up?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Erwin, please.

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Bryan Maher

The quasi-closed one, we don't really think that we will reapply once this license expires. That market is just not attractive. And quasi-closed doesn't mean closed, it only means to have it open to the extent as necessary by regulations. And with regard to Kraków, yes, we still do have considerations and we are looking around and trying to find a better property.

Bryan Maher

Analyst · Bryan Maher

And then on the acquisition front, Peter, maybe you can address to the extent that you can anything that you're seeing. I know you're constantly kind of exploring around the world, potential opportunities in South America with the investment you made a year ago and out in Asia. Can you give us any update on how to think about that seeing as your kind of near-term prospects I think are fairly understood by the market, it's what we don't know that we'd like to know.

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

We see a number of attractive opportunities, both in terms of new license awards as well as on the acquisition front. On the acquisition front it's all about finding the project that offers great future potential, but at the same time is available at long EBITDA multiples. And I think we have identified a handful, or say, three or four such opportunities in North America as well as in South America. We would pay a little bit more in North America compared to South America in terms of EBITDA multiples. Asia, nothing really new in Asia. We are discussing potential partnerships, because we wouldn't want to go into any of those Asian markets without a strong local partner. Progress is rather slow in Asia, but there is more progress in Canada, the U.S. and in South America on the acquisition front.

Bryan Maher

Analyst · Bryan Maher

And can you give us an update to the extent, if there is any, on your investment down in South America that you made a year ago?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Not much of an update. The casino within the province of Mendoza is going from strengths-to-strengths. Our contracting work bears fruit. We see that the real potential of this agreement is the opportunity to increase our stake to 50%. That's a three-year option. It has now 2.5 years left. And what we've said is that we wait until a few months after the election in Argentina, which is I believe in October, so probably in the first half of next year you'll see us to make certain decisions that will have or could really have a material impact, but not before that.

Operator

Operator

Year next question comes from the line of Robert Magic from CJS Securities.

Robert Magic

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

Just wanted to follow-up on Poland. How are gaming trends there trending against your internal expectations? And if it's possible to quantify, how much impact are you seeing from your legal street slot competition?

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Erwin, can you comment on that?

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

I'm not sure whether I understand the question well. You're asking how much the trend in market is looking for or against our trend. Is that what you're asking?

Robert Magic

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

Yes. And then how much impact you're seeing from your legal street slot competition?

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

From the closing of the slot casinos?

Robert Magic

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

No, from the street slot vendors.

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

From the street slot?

Robert Magic

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

From the street slot arcades that are being phased out by the slot legislation?

Erwin Haitzmann

Analyst · Robert Magic from CJS Securities

A number of the slot arcades have been closed. And in few markets, we see a positive effect.

Operator

Operator

We have no further questions in queue. End of Q&A

Peter Hoetzinger

Management

Thank you everyone for your interest in Century Casinos and your participation in the call. For a recording of the call, please visit the financial results section of our website at cnty.com. We look forward to getting together with you again for our third quarter earnings call in November. Goodbye.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for attending.