Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (MLCO) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 10, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeanny Kim - Senior Vice President, Group Treasurer

Lawrence Ho - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Geoffrey Davis - Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

David Sisk - Chief Operating Officer, Macau Resorts

Conference Call Participants

George Choi - Citi

Praveen Choudhary - Morgan Stanley

Angus Chan - UBS

Simon Cheung - Goldman Sachs

Joseph Greff - JPMorgan

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in the First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited. [Operator Instructions] Today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Jeanny Kim, Senior Vice President, Group Treasurer of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited. Please go ahead.

Jeanny Kim

Thank you, operator and thank you, everybody, for joining us today for our first quarter 2023 earnings call. On the call are Lawrence Ho, Geoff Davis, Evan Winkler and our Presidents in Macau, Manila and Cyprus.

Before we get started, please note that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provision of federal securities law. Our actual results could differ from our anticipated results. In addition, we may discuss non-GAAP measures. A definition and reconciliation of each of these measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the earnings release. Finally, please note that our supplementary earnings slides are posted on our Investor Relations website.

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Lawrence Ho.

Lawrence Ho

Thank you, Jeanny. We have seen a very encouraging start to the recovery in Macau during the first quarter of 2023 following the relaxation of border restrictions in early January and the recovery has progressed faster than we had anticipated.

We continue to see improving momentum into April and solid performance during the May Golden Week. Mass drop and mass GGR during this closing week period exceeded the same period in 2019 and the turnover in our premium direct segment more than doubled. We launched some exciting new initiatives in April. We started Macau's first-ever series of residency concert at Studio City and opened Studio City Phase 2 starting with the opening of Epic hotel tower and the indoor water park. We also plan to open the W Hotel tower in September which will round out our hotel portfolio in Macau. These initiatives reinforce our long-standing commitment to bringing unique world-class entertainment and hotel offerings to Macau. We have a diverse range of events that are being planned for the future that we believe will continue to drive international tourism and position Macau as a leading destination for leisure and entertainment.