Boyd Gaming profits
more than triple

Revenue from its Vacations Hawaii
unit increase 32.1 percent

LAS VEGAS » Boyd Gaming Corp., which operates daily charters to Las Vegas through its Vacations Hawaii subsidiary, said yesterday second-quarter earnings more than tripled year-over-year due to the acquisition of Coast Casinos in the Las Vegas locals market and strong performance at the company's Borgata joint venture.

The company owns the California, Fremont and Mainstreet Station hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, which are popular with Hawaii travelers, and company officials have said about 80 percent of Boyd's customers come from the islands. Its Vacations Hawaii charters bring 10,000 travelers a month from Hawaii, officials said.

Revenue from Vacations Hawaii rose 32.1 percent last quarter to $14.8 million from $11.2 million a year earlier.

Overall, net income for the company shot up to $48.6 million, or 54 cents per share, from $15.5 million, or 23 cents per share, a year ago. In this year's second quarter, the company's weighted average shares were 22.1 million greater than in the 2004 quarter, due principally to shares issued in the Coast Casinos merger.

Excluding preopening expenses and other items, the company earned 56 cents per share in the latest quarter, more than double last year's 27 cents. Revenue grew 62 percent to $554 million from $342 million last year, principally due to the addition of Coast Casinos' revenue.

The results beat analysts' expectations for profit of 55 cents per share, though sales missed targets of $559.8 million, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, the company's joint venture property in Atlantic City, reported a 13 percent jump in second-quarter gaming revenue to $170 million, and nongaming revenue of $61 million.

Coast Casinos contributed sales of $180 million to the latest quarter's results.