Don’t count MGM Resorts among those interested in purchasing any Caesars properties in Las Vegas that might be available.
That’s according to MGM CEO Jim Murren, who made his comments during a second-quarter company earnings call on Thursday.
“We didn’t look at the Caesars assets before the Eldorado trade, and we’re certainly not going to look at them now,” Murren said. “We’re not interested in investing the shareholders’ money just to be bigger.”
Earlier this year, Reno-based Eldorado Resorts announced a $17.3 billion deal to buy Caesars.
While the deal still needs regulatory approval before becoming final, it’s been widely speculated that one or more Caesars properties in Las Vegas might be made available for purchase.
An Eldorado spokeswoman said Friday that the company has no comment about any possible future sale of current Caesars properties.
As for MGM’s performance in the second quarter, the company posted a consolidated net revenue of $3.2 billion, up 13% from the same quarter in 2018.
Murren said the quarterly results were in line with company expectations.
He also said the company has completed the employee reduction portion of its MGM 2020 restructuring plan, which expects to deliver an annual adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortizations) uplift of $300 million by the end of 2021.
MGM posted a second quarter adjusted EBITDA figure of $756 million, which was about $61 million more than the second quarter of 2018.
MGM’s Las Vegas Strip resorts reported a modest 1% increase in revenues last quarter, though nongaming revenues were up 5%. Gaming revenues were down 12% on the Strip last quarter.
Still, Murren was mostly bullish on the Las Vegas, pointing to an increase in convention and entertainment business.
“We feel good about the remainder of 2019, given the strength in our convention bookings and entertainment calendar,” Murren said. “Our entertainment calendar is the best we’ve seen in a long time.”
Overall, MGM reported a profit of just over $43 million last quarter. MGM’s stock was up just over 4% during late-day trading on Friday.