Caesars Entertainment Reports Financial Results for the Third Quarter of 2018

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR) ("CEC," "Caesars," "Caesars Entertainment," or the "Company") today reported third quarter of 2018 results as summarized in the discussion below, which highlights certain GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures on a consolidated basis.

Third Quarter GAAP Highlights

• Third quarter net revenues increased $1.19 billion, from $0.99 billion to $2.19 billion, due to the inclusion of the results of CEOC, LLC ("CEOC"), which emerged from bankruptcy in the fourth quarter of 2017, and the inclusion of the results of Centaur Holdings, LLC ("Centaur"), which was acquired during the quarter.
• Third quarter operating profit increased 176%, or $148 million, from $84 million to $232 million.
• Third quarter net income attributable to Caesars was $110 million, compared to a net loss of $433 million in the prior year. Basic earnings per share totaled $0.16.
• Caesars Entertainment completed the acquisition of Centaur on July 16, 2018.
• Caesars Entertainment increased its Share Repurchase Program authorization to $750 million and repurchased approximately 28 million shares during the quarter for approximately $280 million.

Enterprise-wide Highlights (Non-GAAP)

• Enterprise-wide net revenues increased 2.9%, or $62 million, from $2.12 billion to $2.19 billion. Enterprise-wide hold adjusted net revenues increased 2.2%, or $48 million, from $2.16 billion to $2.21 billion.
• Enterprise-wide adjusted EBITDAR decreased 2.1%, or $13 million, from $613 million to $600 million. Enterprise-wide hold adjusted EBITDAR decreased 2.7%, or $17 million, from $633 million to $616 million.
• Enterprise-wide and Las Vegas adjusted EBITDAR were both approximately flat to down 1% on a year over year basis when adjusting for hold and a favorable credit in bad debt expense.
• Enterprise-wide adjusted EBITDAR margin declined 140 basis points to 27.5%. Despite headwinds in Las Vegas, our Las Vegas adjusted EBITDAR margin was 33.7%.
• Excluding Centaur, marketing costs decreased 10.0%, or $57 million, including $32 million of contra-revenue, reflecting the Company's continued focus in this area.

"We executed well during the quarter despite a challenging operating environment in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and we are optimistic about the opportunities ahead," said Mark Frissora, President & Chief Executive Officer. "Third quarter net income was $110 million compared to a loss of $433 million in the prior year period, benefiting from the consolidation of CEOC and acquisition of Centaur. Despite soft demand in Las Vegas during the third quarter, our booking pace is up meaningfully in the fourth quarter and we expect to deliver approximately 4% to 6% adjusted EBITDAR growth for the full year. Our results demonstrated continued broad-based strength across our regional properties and momentum in our operational efficiency efforts. Our performance this quarter shows the benefits of our portfolio approach and the balance between destination and regional assets."

Mr. Frissora continued, "We are making important progress against our growth strategy with the integration of Centaur, expansion of our U.S. sports betting business and the creation or renewal of partnerships with six professional sports organizations. We have the right strategies in place and are confident in our ability to create value for shareholders over the long-term, as evidenced by our repurchase of $311 million in shares year to date."

Additional Development

Recently, the Company received a letter from Golden Nugget, LLC proposing that Caesars acquire substantially all of Golden Nugget's restaurant, hospitality, entertainment and gaming businesses in exchange for a significant minority of Caesars' common shares.

The Board considered the proposal, in consultation with its legal and financial advisors, and determined that it is not consistent with the Company's plans to create and enhance shareholder value over the long term. The Board has informed Golden Nugget of its decision.

Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board continues to be open to reasonable alternatives to enhance long-term shareholder value.

Basis of Presentation

In accordance with U.S. GAAP, the results of CEOC and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries were not consolidated with Caesars from January 15, 2015 until October 6, 2017. Additionally, Caesars deconsolidated the results of its Horseshoe Baltimore property in the third quarter of 2017. Note that certain additional non-GAAP financial measures have been added to highlight the results of the Company including CEOC. "Enterprise-wide" results reported herein include CEOC as if its results were consolidated during all periods, but remove the deconsolidated Horseshoe Baltimore property from all periods presented. On July 16, 2018, Caesars completed the acquisition of Centaur. "2018 Data Excluding Centaur" removes the post-acquisition results of Centaur from Caesars' consolidated results. See the tables at the end of this press release for the reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP presentations. GAAP and Enterprise-wide results include Caesars Acquisition Company ("CAC") for all periods presented because CEC's merger with CAC was accounted for as a reorganization of entities under common control. The intent of the Enterprise-wide information is to illustrate certain comparable results based on the current consolidation structure. For Enterprise-wide result reconciliations by region, see the historical information supplement in the Investor Relations section of www.caesars.com.

Caesars also adopted ASC 606: Revenue from Contracts with Customers, effective January 1, 2018, using the full retrospective method, which requires the Company to recast each prior reporting period presented consistent with the new standard.

See Supplemental Information in this release for information regarding our forecasted adjusted EBITDAR growth and why we are unable to reconcile it to GAAP.

Financial Results

Caesars views each casino property as an operating segment and aggregate such casino properties into three regionally-focused reportable segments: (i) Las Vegas, (ii) Other U.S. and (iii) All Other, which is consistent with how Caesars manages the business. The results of our reportable segments presented below are consistent with the way management assesses these results and allocates resources, which is a consolidated view that adjusts for the effect of certain transactions among reportable segments within Caesars. "All Other" includes managed, international and other properties as well as parent and other adjustments to reconcile to consolidated Caesars results.

The inclusion of CEOC's and Centaur's results increased CEC net revenues by $1.19 billion. The year-over-year comparison is not meaningful due to the magnitude of consolidating CEOC's portfolio.

Enterprise-wide net revenues improved $62 million driven primarily by an $87 million increase in Other U.S. revenues resulting from the acquisition of Centaur. Excluding Centaur, Other U.S. net revenues were $1.02 billion for the third quarter of 2018, a decrease of $18 million from 2017 primarily due to increased competition in Atlantic City. Las Vegas net revenues decreased $22 million primarily due to weaker demand in the leisure segment from a citywide lack of events and conventions in the quarter and unfavorable hold. Las Vegas ADR remained flat while RevPAR decreased 3.6%. Las Vegas occupancy was 92.8% in the quarter, down from 96.1% in 2017. All Other net revenues remained essentially flat year over year.

Hold had a favorable impact of $10 million to $14 million compared to the prior year and was $20 million to $25 million below our expectations.

The consolidation of CEOC's results contributed $104 million to income from operations while the post-acquisition results of Centaur contributed $22 million to income from operations in 2018, partially offset by a decrease of $6 million in income from operations due to the deconsolidation of Horseshoe Baltimore's results subsequent to August 31, 2017. Excluding CEOC, Centaur and Horseshoe Baltimore, income from operations increased $28 million primarily as a result of lower accelerated depreciation in 2018 compared with 2017 due to the removal and replacement of certain assets in connection with ongoing property renovation projects and nonrecurring charges in the prior year to exit the fully bundled sales system of NV Energy, partially offset by a decrease in net revenues in the Las Vegas region as discussed above.

In addition to the $148 million increase in income from operations discussed above, nonrecurring restructuring expenses of approximately $448 million in 2017 primarily drove the year-over-year fluctuation in net income/(loss) attributable to Caesars. In 2018, we also benefitted from other income of $97 million due to a change in the fair value of the derivative liability related to the conversion option of CEC's 5.00% convertible senior notes maturing in 2024 (the "CEC Convertible Notes") as well as an increase of $66 million in our income tax benefit primarily due to the deferred tax benefit in 2018 from the partial release of the federal valuation allowance upon the acquisition of Centaur. These increases were partially offset by an increase of $221 million in interest expense primarily as a result of our failed sale-leaseback financing obligations with VICI Properties Inc. ("VICI") that began incurring interest in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Enterprise-wide adjusted EBITDAR declined $13 million, primarily as a result of lower hotel revenues in the Las Vegas region and increased competition in Atlantic City. Excluding Centaur, Other U.S. adjusted EBITDAR was $278 million for the third quarter of 2018, which was relatively flat as compared to 2017 despite the decrease in revenues which were offset by marketing and labor efficiency improvements. All Other adjusted EBITDAR decreased by $18 million year over year due to higher non-recurring corporate costs in the prior year and lower than normal insurance expense in the prior year due to large claims that settled significantly lower than reserved.

Hold had a favorable impact of $0 to $5 million compared to the prior year and was $15 million to $20 million below our expectations.

Cash and Available Revolver Capacity

Conference Call Information

Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR) will host a conference call at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time, Thursday, November 1, 2018, to discuss its third quarter results, certain forward-looking information and other matters related to Caesars Entertainment Corporation, including certain financial and other information. The press release, webcast, and presentation materials will be available on the Investor Relations section of www.caesars.com.

If you would like to ask questions and be an active participant in the call, you may dial 877-637-3723, or 832-412-1752 for international callers, and enter Conference ID 4894346 approximately 10 minutes before the call start time. A recording of the live call will be available on the Company's website for 90 days after the event. Supplemental materials have been posted on the Caesars Entertainment Investor Relations website at http://investor.caesars.com/events-and-presentations.

About Caesars

Caesars Entertainment is the world's most diversified casino-entertainment provider and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company. Caesars Entertainment is mainly comprised of two wholly owned operating subsidiaries: CEOC, LLC and Caesars Resort Collection, LLC. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, in 1937, Caesars Entertainment has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions and its portfolio of subsidiaries now operate 49 casinos in 13 U.S. states and five countries. Caesars Entertainment's resorts operate primarily under the Caesars®, Harrah's® and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars Entertainment's portfolio also includes the Caesars Entertainment UK family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Caesars Entertainment is committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.

Forward Looking Information

This release includes "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations about future events. Further, these statements contain words such as "may," "continue," "focus," "will," "expect," "believe," "positioned," "initiatives," "execute," or "strategy," or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. In particular, they include statements relating to, among other things, future actions, new projects, strategies, future performance, the outcomes of contingencies, such as legal proceedings, and future financial results of Caesars. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified, and, consequently, the actual performance of Caesars Entertainment may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following factors, and other factors described from time to time in Caesars Entertainment's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" contained therein):

• our ability to respond to changes in the industry, particularly digital transformation, and to take advantage of the opportunity for legalized sports betting in multiple jurisdictions in the United States (which may require third-party arrangements and/or regulatory approval);
• development of our announced convention center in Las Vegas, CAESARS FORUM, and certain of our other announced projects are subject to risks associated with new construction projects, including those described below;
• we may not be able to realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisition of Centaur, including anticipated benefits from introducing table games to the acquired properties, which is subject to approvals and may not occur;
• completion of the sale of Harrah's Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack to VICI is subject to customary closing conditions, including certain regulatory approvals and third party approvals, which may not be satisfied;
• the impact of our new operating structure following CEOC's emergence from bankruptcy;
• the effects of local and national economic, credit, and capital market conditions on the economy, in general, and on the gaming industry, in particular;
• the effect of reductions in consumer discretionary spending due to economic downturns or other factors and changes in consumer demands;
• the ability to realize improvements in our business and results of operations through our property renovation investments, technology deployments, business process improvement initiatives and other continuous improvement initiatives;
• the ability to take advantage of opportunities to grow our revenue;
• the ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income as anticipated;
• the ability to realize all of the anticipated benefits of current or potential future acquisitions;
• the ability to effectively compete against our competitors;
• the financial results of our consolidated businesses;
• the impact of our substantial indebtedness, including its impact on our ability to raise additional capital in the future and react to changes in the economy, and lease obligations and the restrictions in our debt and lease agreements;
• the ability to access available and reasonable financing or additional capital on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or at all, including our ability to refinance our indebtedness on acceptable terms;
• the ability of our customer tracking, customer loyalty, and yield management programs to continue to increase customer loyalty and hotel sales;
• changes in the extensive governmental regulations to which we are subject and (1) changes in laws, including increased tax rates, smoking bans, regulations, or accounting standards, (2) third-party relations, and (3) approvals, decisions, disciplines and fines of courts, regulators, and governmental bodies;
• compliance with the extensive laws and regulations to which we are subject, including applicable gaming laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws, and the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws;
• our ability to recoup costs of capital investments through higher revenues;
• growth in consumer demand for non-gaming offerings;
• abnormal gaming holds ("gaming hold" is the amount of money that is retained by the casino from wagers by customers);
• the effects of competition, including locations of competitors, growth of online gaming, competition for new licenses, and operating and market competition;
• our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and damages caused to our brands due to the unauthorized use of our brand names by third parties in ways outside of our control;
• the ability to timely and cost-effectively integrate companies that we acquire into our operations;
• the ability to execute on our brand licensing and management strategy is subject to third party agreements and other risks associated with new projects;
• not being able to realize all of our anticipated cost savings;
• the potential difficulties in employee retention, recruitment, and motivation;
• our ability to retain our performers or other entertainment offerings on acceptable terms or at all;
• the risk of fraud, theft, and cheating;
• seasonal fluctuations resulting in volatility and an adverse effect on our operating results;
• any impairments to goodwill, indefinite-lived intangible assets, or long-lived assets that we may incur;
• construction factors, including delays, increased costs of labor and materials, availability of labor and materials, zoning issues, environmental restrictions, soil and water conditions, weather and other hazards, site access matters, and building permit issues;
• the impact of adverse legal proceedings and judicial and governmental body actions, including gaming legislative action, referenda, regulatory disciplinary actions, and fines and taxation;
• acts of war or terrorist incidents (including the impact of the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas on tourism), severe weather conditions, uprisings, or natural disasters, including losses therefrom, losses in revenues and damage to property, and the impact of severe weather conditions on our ability to attract customers to certain facilities of ours;
• fluctuations in energy prices;
• work stoppages and other labor problems;
• our ability to collect on credit extended to our customers;
• the effects of environmental and structural building conditions relating to our properties and our exposure to environmental liability, including as a result of unknown environmental contamination;
• a disruption, failure, or breach of our network, information systems, or other technology, or those of our vendors, on which we are dependent;
• risks and costs associated with protecting the integrity and security of internal, employee and customer data;
• access to insurance for our assets on reasonable terms; and
• the impact, if any, of unfunded pension benefits under multi-employer pension plans.

Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. Caesars Entertainment disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated or, if no date is stated, as of the date of this release.