Hawaii residents help boost Boyd
Casino operator Boyd Gaming Corp., which operates charter flights six days a week to Las Vegas from Honolulu, said yesterday that first-quarter earnings jumped 57.8 percent partly on the strength of the Hawaii market at its downtown properties.
Net income was $63.2 million, or 70 cents a share, compared with $40.1 million, or 45 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Boyd had earnings per share of 78 cents.
Revenue increased 14 percent to a record $646.5 million from $566.9 million. EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, increased 26 percent to $215 million.
The company's three downtown Las Vegas properties -- the California Hotel and Casino, the Fremont Hotel and Casino and the Main Street Station Casino, Brewery and Hotel -- posted a 2.3 percent increase in revenue to a record first-quarter $64.5 million from $63.1 million a year earlier.
Revenue at Vacations Hawaii, the company's Honolulu-based travel agency and charter flight operator, slipped in the quarter to $12.7 million from $12.8 million. Boyd spokesman Rob Stillwell attributed the lower revenue to a smaller plane used during the first quarter, a seasonally slow period. He said the move was made in response to soaring fuel costs.
Boyd said its overall earnings were driven by large increases in the Central region and at Atlantic City, N.J.,'s Borgata, which Boyd jointly owns with MGM Mirage.