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“The further ramp up of the award-winning Morpheus and opening of the new VIP area on the second floor helped City of Dreams deliver a strong set of results in the second quarter of 2019, with VIP volumes, mass table gaming revenue and Property EBITDA all experiencing significant growth.
“During the second quarter, Studio City and Altira also delivered strong mass table gaming revenue growth, highlighting strength in Macau’s mass gaming market and Melco’s dominant foothold in the city’s mass and premium mass gaming segments.
“Melco’s dedication to excellence has been widely recognized, most recently by the 2019 Asia Pacific Property Awards with Morpheus being awarded as the winner of Best Hotel Architecture Macau and Best New Hotel Construction & Design Macau. ‘The House of Dancing Water’, Melco’s award-winning show, has also been recognized by Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia Awards 2019 as the Best Integrated ResortsNon-Gaming Attraction. These recognitions have positioned Melco as a leading integrated resort operator in Asia.
“At Studio City, we continue to enhance our entertainment offerings with a series of property upgrades, which include the opening of thepop-up ‘Legend Heroes Park’ in January, the ‘Show House’ Night Club in February and the ‘Flip Out’ Trampoline Park in May. Soon, we will open the permanent, 50,000 square feet Legend Heroes VR Park, which should be Asia’s largest Virtual Reality Zone.
“The Board has, after evaluating the Company’s current liquidity position and future expected capital needs, decided to increase the quarterly cash dividend by 6% to US$0.05504 per ordinary share, which is equivalent to US$0.16512 per ADS, from the previous quarterly dividend of US$0.0517 per ordinary share.
“In May 2019, the Company announced its agreement to acquire a 19.99% stake in Crown Resorts Limited (“Crown”) from CPH Crown Holdings Pty Limited. We believe Melco’s investment in Crown is an incredible opportunity to purchase a strategic stake in what we believe to be Australia’s premier provider of true integrated resort experiences.
“In June 2019, the Company announced its agreement to acquire from Melco International Development Limited (“Melco International”) all of Melco International’s holdings of ordinary shares of ICR Cyprus Holdings Limited (“ICR Cyprus”), which represents a 75% equity interest in ICR Cyprus. ICR Cyprus and its subsidiaries are developing the City of Dreams Mediterranean integrated destination resort project in Cyprus. The City of Dreams Mediterranean project is currently under development and scheduled to open in 2021, upon which it is expected to be the largest and premier integrated destination resort in Europe.
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