Biloxi’s Isle of Capri boosts first quarter per share earnings by 27 percent

Matt Moore

Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2000 | 4:27 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. - Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. reports its first quarter earnings nearly doubled from a year ago, the unexpected payoff from thriving casinos in Louisiana and Colorado.

Isle of Capri earned $10.5 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with $6.5 million, or 26 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The results beat analysts' estimates of 30 cents per share, according to First Call/Thompson Financial.

Revenue climbed to $230.3 million from $128.3 million.

"The numbers look pretty good," said analyst and vice president Marc Falcone of Bear Stearns in New York.

Investors responded by bidding up Isle of Capri stock. The Biloxi-based company's shares finished 62 cents higher Thursday at $14.25, an increase of 4.5 percent, on the NASDAQ.

Falcone said the performance of the company's casino in Blackhawk, Colo., helped push the Isle's overall numbers up.

The casino had $25.6 million in revenue for the quarter, compared with $20.2 million in the same period a year ago.

Isle's strategy of acquiring other properties and rebranding it with the "Isle Style" treatment has paid off, Falcone said.

The company's Kansas City casino "has proven that the Isle of Capri management team has really been able to derive significant improvement ... in the couple of months that it has opened that property," he said. "That sets the tone of the company's ability to acquire non-Isle-branded assets and rebrand them."

Isle's Louisiana properties also generated strong results for the company. Its casino in Lake Charles had quarterly revenue of $48 million, compared with $44.7 million in the same period a year ago.

Isle's Bossier City casino had revenue of $41 million, up more than 25 percent from last year's $32.7 in revenue.

"What is a pleasant surprise to see is the strength in the Louisiana markets - and in Colorado - offsetting whatever weaknesses there are on the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said analyst Daniel Davila of Hibernia Southcoast Capital in New Orleans.

In Mississippi, competition with other casinos in Biloxi drew down Isle's revenue to $22.7 million, from $23.3 million the year before.

"We fully expected the Biloxi property to come under competitive pressure from the reawakening of Beau Rivage," Davila said.

The upscale Beau Rivage has seen its finances improve since it was acquired by MGM earlier this year.

Isle's casino in Vicksburg improved with quarterly revenue of $16.4 million, as did its Natchez casino, which had first quarter revenue of $10.1 million.

Its Lula casino posted a slight decline in revenue, falling from $27.7 million in 1999 to $27.3 million this year.

Isle of Capri owns and operates 12 casinos in Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, Kansas and Iowa.

The company also operates a harness racing track in Pompano Beach, Fla., and the Enchanted Capri cruise ship that sails out of New Orleans.

The company employs more than 6,000 workers.

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On the Net:

Isle of Capri: http://www.theislecorp.com

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