Getting a jump on the quarterly-earnings-reporting period, Full House Resorts pre-announced unaudited financial figures for the final quarter of 2021.
Management expects 4Q21 revenues to top out at $43.5 million, compared to $38.3 million during the same period of COVID-impaired 2020. Cash flow actually tightened from $7.7 million in 2020 to somewhere between $4.9 million and $6.1 million last year. Profit nearly doubled, however, from $3.5 million to $5.9 million. Headwinds included “adverse hold” at Rising Star in Indiana and the company’s two Nevada casinos, as well as $1.7 million in nonrecurring corporate expenditures.
Full House has $265 million cash on hand, $177 million of which is reserved for the company’s Chamonix resort project in Cripple Creek, Colorado.
“Given the company’s estimated preliminary results for the fourth quarter, results for the full year are expected to be its highest for at least the past eight years,” predicted the formal announcement, which pegged full-year revenue for 2021 between $179.9 million and $180.4 million, compared to $125.6 million in 2020. Profit is foreseen in the range of $46.6 million to $47.8 million, “including approximately $2.1 million of expenses related to corporate initiatives that are not expected to recur in future years.”
With regard to Chamonix, its outlay has risen to $250 million, “reflecting completion of sub-contracting of much of its hard-dollar construction budget.” The company cited a “difficult construction environment,” but said it anticipated no further cost increases. Despite the budget creep, Full House can fund the higher-dollar figure from cash on hand and has rerouted the requisite money to do so.
The company also laid out an optimistic scenario, noting that Cripple Creek gaming revenues grew 26 percent between July and November, while those in Black Hawk leapt 50 percent. Without making an explicit correlation, Full House observed that this coincided with the elimination of betting limits, plus a new 516-room four-star hotel and a 100-room luxury hotel opening in Black Hawk. Full House management has, in other contexts, stated a belief that Chamonix can have similar effects on Cripple Creek when it opens, currently slated for the second quarter of next year.
Since its last earnings call, Full House has won the casino concession in Waukegan, Illinois. This has freed up management to elaborate on their plans for the city. The permanent facility, American Place, will be preceded by a temporary casino, “The Temporary at American Place.” Although Full House will be spending $100 million on the temporary casino, those costs will include the purchase of slot machines eventually destined for American Place, as well as casino-license fees.
The debt-financed temporary will debut this summer and is expected to house 50 table games and 1,000 slot machines, all subject to approval by the state of Illinois. To this end, Full House is buying 10 acres of land adjacent to its 29-acre American Place site. On this acreage, a sprung structure will arise and Full House will economize by doubling up temporary-casino parking with lots eventually destined for American Place.
