Isle Casinos show profit again

Staff and Wire reports

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Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. on Wednesday reported a fourth quarter profit of $14.6 million compared with a prior-year loss of $51.3 million.

This followed a positive third quarter for the parent company of the Isle Casino in Biloxi.

President Virginia McDowell said because of the commitment of the employees over the past year, “We are a leaner, stronger, more focused company.”

The company listed steps taken during the fiscal year that affected business. These would be significant any year, she said, and particularly this year given the current economy.

They included improving customer service while decreasing operating costs by about $45 million and cutting corporate development costs by an additional $7.3 million.

Plans to expand the Isle Biloxi were put on hold around the same time construction was stopped at the neighboring Margaritaville Casino and the economy brought lower casino revenues.

“The impact of the economic pressure has been felt broadly across our customer base,” said McDowell. “We experienced a significant decline in our retail play along with a decrease in the trip frequency and spend of our database customers late in calendar 2008. While January and February saw a somewhat substantial increase across both of these customer groups, we did see a moderate pull-back in spending during March and April.”

She expects the trend of customers spending less to continue until the economy and consumer confidence improve.

The final Hurricane Katrina insurance claim for $95 million was also resolved during the quarter.

After pulling out of the United Kingdom and preparing to exit its Grand Bahama casino, the focus of Isle of Capri Casino is its domestic casinos.

Chief Executive Officer James Perry said while the company has seen signs improvement since January, “We will continue to employ a cautious approach to our business as a result of economic uncertainty.”

Perry said the Isle team is positioned to pursue new acquisitions and management opportunities.