Advanced Forum Search -- Advanced Casino Search

Isle of Capri looking internationally
Message was posted: 12:02 Dec 4th, 2006

User: libblesp Rank: Casino Gold: 58782CG Contributor rating: 128760 Status: Offline

Casino news source: Sun Herald - http://www.sunherald.com Isle of Capri looking internationally But Coast is still bread and butter By TOM WILEMON tewilemon@sunherald.com BILOXI - Mississippi remains the bread-and-butter market for Isle of Capri Casinos, bringing in almost a third of net revenues, but the company is spreading its reach nationally and internationally. Company President Tim Hinkley and other executives discussed developments being built or planned for England, Singapore, Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania and other places in an earnings conference call Friday morning. They said they were "fine-tuning the scope and getting the project costs in line" for a second Coast casino at the western end of Harrison County. The Isle's three Mississippi properties accounted for 27.6 percent of the company's quarterly net revenues. Total net revenues for the company were $243.2 million compared to $210 million for the same period a year ago. In Biloxi, which had been the company's headquarters until this year, the Isle had about 11.5 percent of the market share during the close of the quarter compared to about 8.5 percent for the same period two years ago. "Clearly, we're in a much better position today than we were before the storm," said Bob Griffin, vice president of operations. When the company moved its headquarters to St. Louis, officials said it was to avoid any future operational disruptions at the corporate level because of a hurricane. The Biloxi casino property has three phases of development, company officials said. The first was reopening the property last Dec. 26. The second was an expansion of the gambling space and restaurants. The third will be bringing back the casino to its "pre-Katrina" level. Company officials did not say whether the plans included city-owned property north of U.S. 90 where the Isle has the right of first refusal. This is the same waterfront property that the Golden Nugget has tried to lease from the city.