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Monarch Expects To Report Record Results For Fourth Quarter And Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2004
RENO, Nev. - 1/10/2005
Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCRI) (the "Company") today announced that it expects to report record results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2004. Despite one of the most severe winter storms in the region’s history striking during one of the Company’s typically busiest periods of the year (New Year’s Eve), the Company expects strong results, achieving record fourth quarter numbers.
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2004, net revenues are expected to be approximately $31.0 million compared to $28.3 million during the same period a year earlier. The increase is expected to set a new Company fourth quarter record, driven by increases in the Company’s casino, hotel and food and beverage revenue centers. Based on these preliminary results, the Company expects its fourth quarter 2004 earnings per diluted share (EPS) to be approximately $0.36. EPS for the 2003 fourth quarter was $0.19 per diluted share. EBITDA (1) for the fourth quarter of 2004 is expected to be approximately $7.8 million versus $6.2 million for the same period in 2003.
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, net revenues are expected to set a new all-time Company record of approximately $129 million, compared to $116 million the previous year. The 2004 increase was driven by improvements in casino, hotel and food and beverage operations. Preliminary results indicate that the Company’s net income per diluted share (EPS) for the full year of 2004 is expected to be approximately $1.70. EPS was $1.02 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2003. EBITDA (1) for the 2004 fiscal year is expected to be approximately $35.9 million, easily beating the Company’s previous full year best EBITDA (1) of $28.0 million in 2003.
Winter storms over Reno during the last two days of 2004 produced the heaviest snowfall since 1990 when 21 inches of snow reached the valley floor and were expected to rival all-time records for the area. The Reno area experienced more heavy snowfall as of this writing as a second big storm was expected to bring two to four more feet of precipitation through January 10, 2005. John Farahi, CEO and Co-Chairman of Monarch commented: "The ongoing adverse weather is happening during the first couple of weeks of January which have historically been one of the slowest business periods for this market. Preliminary results as of January 7, 2005, show a moderate decrease in the volume of slot play at our property compared to the first seven days of 2004, when there was relatively mild weather." The Company expects to release final results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, during the third week of February. |
