Golden Entertainment reported steady year-on-year results for both its fourth quarter 2022 results and its full-year 2022 results.
For the entire year, total revenue for the company was $1.12bn (PS937.9m/EUR1.05bn). This is 2.3% more than 2021. However, Q4 revenue dropped to $279.7m (from $281.9m).
Blake Sartini was chairman and chief executive of Golden Entertainment. He noted that results have remained above levels pre-pandemic.
He stated that “our fourth quarter demonstrated strong financial performance, which remains well above 2019, while higher labour costs affected the comparison to last years’s fourth quarter results.”
“For the second year in a row, our total annual revenues exceeded $1bn. Our operating discipline continues to support our significant margin improvement which has led to a 45% increase of full-year adjusted EBITDA as compared to 2019.
Golden Entertainment repaid $25m on its outstanding term loan, and purchased $2m of its senior secured notes during the fourth quarter.
The company also repurchased more than $1.1m of common stock over the course of the year, and more than $300k in common stock shares in Q4.
Fourth quarter
For Q4, the total revenue fell by 0.8%
The Q4 2022 Q4 2021 quarter saw a similar revenue mix from food and beverages to the other revenue streams. Revenue from food and beverages increased by 1.3% to $45.4m. Other revenues rose by $246,000, or $16.6m.
Gaming revenue declined by 3.2% to $185m in the quarter. However, profit from gaming increased by 10.3% to $22.6m.
The total expenses decreased by 1.2% to $244.2 million year-on-year. Gaming was the most expensive at $105.5m. Next came selling, general, and administrative expenses at $57.8m.
After subtracting all expenses, the operating profit was $35.4 million, an increase of 2.7%.
Additional non-operating expenses such as interest expense of $17.9m, and loss of debt extinguishment of $178,000 brought the income before taxes to $17.3m.
After an income tax provision of $6.2m the net income was $11.1m. This is a 42.1% decrease year-over-year.
In 2022, adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), was $63.7 million compared to 2021’s $67.8m results in Q4.
Full year results
The full-year report shows that gaming revenue was $766.3m. This is 0.7% less than the previous year. Revenue from food and beverages rose 4.5% to $175.3m. Revenue from rooms increased 11.4% to $122.3m. Other revenue rose 20.0%, to $62.1m.
The net income for the year was $82.2m. This is almost half of Golden Entertainment’s full-year 2021 net income.
Operator’s total expenses increased 4.6% to $973.7m during the year. Operating income after expenses was $147.9m. This is a 10.9% decrease.
Also included was a comparative figure of $60m. This figure was not provided for full-year 2022. Golden Entertainment claimed that this was due to the $60m income from Caesars Entertainment’s acquisition William Hill.
The adjusted EBITDA for 2022 full year was $267.1m. This is 8.4% lower than the $291.7m full year 2021.
Future projections
Sartini presented a few key projections for 2023 including growth in Las Vegas as well as the sale of Rocky Gap Casino Resort.
Sartini stated that “our business trends for this year are encouraging and we anticipate capitalising upon the strength of Las Vegas’ in 2023 and beyond.”
“We anticipate the sale of Rocky Gap Casino Resort closing in the second quarter 2023. This will provide significant liquidity. Together with our free cash flow, this will position us to maintain low leverage and invest in our own properties, accelerating capital returns to shareholders.”
