U.S.-listed casino group Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd purchased less than 8.34 million shares of its own stock on the open market before paying a total of about $44.5 million.
The information was disclosed in a filing on Monday by Hong Kong-listed parent company Melco International Development Ltd. 바카라사이트 추천
Melco Resorts repurchased a total of 8,335,364 shares of American Depositary Shares (ADS), each equivalent to three common shares of Melco Resorts. The transaction was part of the company’s three-year, $500 million share buyback program announced in June 2024.
The consideration for the stock was “paid in full and cash by Melco Resorts and financed by the group’s available liquidity sources,” according to Monday’s filing.
“Melco Resorts has not yet decided whether the repurchased shares will be rescinded following the share repurchase, or whether they will remain issued under Cayman Islands law – where Melco Resorts was founded – or held in state coffers for future reissues,” it added
“The share repurchase reflects confidence in Melco Resorts’ long-term strategy and growth prospects,” the release said.
Melco Resorts posted a net loss of $23.4 million in the second quarter of the year to shareholders’ net income of $21.4 million. Those profits increased 40.8% sequentially from $15.2 million in the first quarter of 2024.
At Melco Resorts’ second-quarter earnings call last week, the company’s chairman and chief executive Lawrence Hoya-urung said he was “shocked” to see the company’s current “share price and valuation” levels because the group’s performance was “well above COVID, when sales were zero.”
“I think we’re looking at it very, very closely. And it’s just very tempting to see these stock prices because [the valuation] doesn’t make sense at this stage,” Ho said.
The CEO said the company’s “number one goals” are still debt reduction and deleveraging.
He added: “I think our balance sheet today is in much better shape than coming out of the pandemic. We’re not down to pre-COVID levels yet. Those are levels we can be more comfortable with.”
On the call, Melco Resorts Chief Financial Officer Jeff Davis also said the company sees “a huge amount of value in the stock.”
“We’re going to remain disciplined in addressing debt reduction, but at this level, it’s very tempting. I think you’re probably going to see us redirect some of our surplus cash to repurchasing some shares at such a severely discounted level in terms of valuations,” Mr Davis said.