[ET Net News Agency, 24 September 2019] Goldman Sachs has recently toured around
several properties in Macau and met with casino/junket operators, namely Wynn (01128),
Galaxy (00027), SJM (00880), MGM (02282), MLCO, Suncity (01383).
The research house said it came out from the meetings feeling slightly negative on the
outlook of mass-market, as visitation to selective casino properties has started to slow.
Wynn Macau also commented that its premium mass GGR has softened with some higher-ended
players bypassing both HK and Macau. On the other hand, MLCO continued to see a solid
mass-market GGR trend (Goldman estimated low- to mid-single-digit % QoQ in 3Q) benefiting
from the spillover effect from strong VIP GGR at Morpheus.
As for VIP, rolling volume remains choppy amid US-China trade tension. Suncity
attributed the choppiness of its volume to short-term disruption from the "proxy betting
incident" in July and tighter capital control by the Chinese government since February
this year. Although visibility is low, both Suncity and Wynn said they see signs of
stabilization in the VIP market.
Overall, Goldman maintained its below-consensus GGR forecast of -5% this year (VIP -18%;
mass +8%) implying a slowdown from -1% in 1H to -8% in 2H. (KL)