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Monarch Announces Record Breaking Fourth Quarter And Full Year Results
RENO, Nev. - 2/20/2006
Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCRI) (the "Company"), owner of the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, today announced record financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2005.
During the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2005, the Company reported EBITDA (1) of $9.6 million, a 23.9% improvement over the $7.8 million EBITDA (1) reported in the fourth quarter of 2004. The improved EBITDA (1) beat published consensus analysts' estimate of $8.9 million and was the result of record fourth quarter net revenues of $34.9 million and improving operating margins. Excluding depreciation and amortization, the Company's operating margin for the period improved to 27.6% of net revenues from 24.9% during the same period a year earlier. The record revenues were driven by a 17.1% increase in casino revenue, a 6.3% jump in food and beverage revenue and a 20.8% improvement in other revenues. The increases were partially offset by a 1.9% decrease in hotel revenue.
Fourth quarter 2005 net income of $4.9 million was a record for the fourth quarter, a 26.8% increase from fourth quarter 2004 net income of $3.9 million for the same period a year earlier and translated into earnings per diluted share (EPS) of $0.26 versus $0.20 for the same period last year. The Company's fourth quarter 2005 diluted EPS beat the published consensus analysts' estimate of $0.23.
For the full year 2005, the Company achieved EBITDA (1) of $41.4 million, a 15.5% improvement over the $35.9 million in 2004. Analysts had estimated a consensus $40.5 million in EBITDA (1) for 2005. The full year 2005 EBITDA (1) was also the result of record revenues combined with vastly improved margins and, in some cases, decreases in departmental expenses. The Company saw improved margins across all departments and, excluding depreciation and amortization, its operating margin for 2005 improved to 29.7% from 27.7% a year earlier. Net revenues increased 8.0% to $139.8 million in 2005 from $129.5 million in 2004. The increase in net revenues was led by a 12.3% improvement in casino revenue, a 3.3% increase in food and beverage revenue and a 20.5% increase in other revenue. Hotel revenue decreased 1.7% year over year.
Net income for 2005 reached $21.0 million, an increase of 27.3% and easily beat the previous Company record of $16.5 million set in 2004. Diluted EPS was $1.10 in 2005 versus $0.88 in 2004, beating the published consensus analysts' estimate of $1.07.
Monarch's CEO and Co-Chairman John Farahi praised the many attributes that led to the recent success: "Favorable economic factors in our area, combined with our superior location, quality of our product and our management's unmatched efforts and attention to detail, has led us to our continued success." Mr. Farahi added: "With our healthy balance sheet, we expect to explore a variety of options for our next expansion, which is currently in the preliminary planning stage."
During 2005, the Company reduced the unpaid principal balance under its credit facility by $24.3 million, bringing its outstanding unpaid balance to $8.1 million at year end 2005.
The Company also announced today that its 2006 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 10:00am local time, at the Company's Atlantis Casino Resort, 3800 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada. The record date for stockholders entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting is Thursday, April 6, 2006. |
