Gross gaming revenue disappoints with 7% growth

Analysts were expecting 11-14%.

According to Barclays, Macau saw January GGR growth of only +7% y/y to HK$27.9bn (MOP28.7bn), which was lower than the anticipated 11-14% range for January.

A breakdown of revenue by segment is not yet available, but we estimate this could mean table-only revenues may have dropped to the low cHK$575mn/day range (vs the Jan 1-26 average of HK$924mn/day) during the Jan 27-31 period, indicating the pre-CNY weakening was even greater than expected.

Here's more from Barclays:

This year, as CNY started on 31 Jan, compared to 10 Feb last year, most of the pre-CNY weakening was captured in Jan, while Jan 2013 did not have this impact.

Our conversations with casino operators and floor checks indicate weaker-than-usual traffic at the casinos during the last week of Jan. However, we believe it is too early to read too much into the 5 days of greater-than-expected pre-CNY weakening and the impact on full-year growth rates (especially as VIP hold rate data is not yet available). We maintain our 15% GGR growth forecast for full-year 2014. We expect February GGR growth to resume to at least the high teens %; we also expect Macau to see much better daily GGR data starting from the third day of CNY (from 2 Feb).