Boyd Gaming Wraps Up Tough Year

Boyd Gaming closed 2007 with declines in revenue and income, according to the company's fourth-quarter and year-end earnings reports.

The Las Vegas-based company, poised to become a major convention-industry player with the development of its Echelon property on the Strip, reported $31 million in income on $478.6 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2007. In the fourth quarter of 2006, Boyd reported income of $55.6 million on revenue of $520.8 million, reflecting declines of 44 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Year-end numbers weren't much better. The company's 2007 income was $121 million on nearly $2 billion in revenue, compared with $161 million in income on $2.2 billion in revenue for 2006; in other words, a 9-percent decline in revenue and a 25-percent decline in income.

Boyd's Las Vegas properties (it also has operations in New Jersey, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Florida) fared better, with only a 1.5-percent decline in revenue for the fourth quarter, and a slight increase - from $846.4 million to $848.2 million - for the full year.

In its report, the company cited “slowing economic conditions and its effect on consumer spending,” along with “property closure costs related to demolition” of the Stardust as reasons for its sluggish financial performance.

Executives preferred to focus on new construction that is underway, including Echelon, set to open in the third quarter of 2010. It will add 320,000 square feet of exhibit space, 250,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and some 5,000 hotel rooms to Las Vegas' already massive inventory.

“Construction of Echelon continues to advance as expected,” said Keith Smith, Boyd president and CEO. “The project remains on track, and we're excited to see that project begin to take its place on the ever-changing Las Vegas skyline.”