Bally's revenue and net loss amid M&A costs in Q4 misses Wall Street expectations

Bally's Corporation on Thursday reported revenue of $547.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of $429.6 million, or 463% compared to the same period of 2020. However, according to the financial report, the company saw net loss of $115.3 million compared to net income of $20.2 million for the comparable period, adjusted EBITDA of $119.4 million, an increase of $98.4 million year-over-year.

These results, adjusted to extinguish debt and costs related to mergers and acquisitions, have missed Wall Street expectations, as reported by the Associated Press.

These quarterly results represent the first full quarter of the consolidated Bally's group including its Casinos & Resorts, International Interactive and North America Interactive segments.

"During the quarter, we made significant progress on integration of our acquired assets, defining our strategic goals for 2022 and deploying capital strategically including progress in growth projects in Lincoln, Atlantic City and Kansas City. Additionally, we repurchased $87 million of our common shares during the quarter," Lee Fenton, Bally's Chief Executive Officer said.

The Casinos & Resorts reportable segment includes: Bally's Twin River, Bally's Tiverton, Bally's Dover, Bally's Atlantic City, Bally's Evansville, Hard Rock Biloxi, Bally's Vicksburg, Bally's Kansas City, Bally's Black Hawk, Bally's Shreveport, Bally's Lake Tahoe, Bally's Quad Cities, and Bally's Arapahoe Park.

The North America Interactive segment comprises the B2B results of Bally's Interactive and other B2B interactive operations. And the International Interactive group includes the non-North American operations of Gamesys.

For the full 2021 year, the company reported that its loss widened to $71.8 million, or $1.45 per share, and revenue was reported at $1.32 billion. Bally's estimates revenue for the full 2022 to be in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion and Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $560 million to $580 million. 

In February, Bally’s Corporation’s board of directors created a special committee of independent and disinterested directors to evaluate the preliminary, non-binding proposal by Standard General to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Bally’s that it does not already own in a $2.07 billion deal. New York-based investment firm Standard General, which already owns a 21% majority stake in Bally’s, is founded and managed by Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim.