8-K Conference Call Transcript May 11, 2005
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE
ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): May 11, 2005
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
|
Kentucky
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
0-1469 (Commission File Number) |
61-0156015
(IRS Employer Identification No.)
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700 Central Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 40208
(Address of principal executive offices)
(Zip Code)
(502)-636-4400
(Registrants telephone number, including area code)
Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report) |
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of
the following provisions:
[ ] Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
[ ] Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
[ ] Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
[ ] Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
CHURCHILL DOWNS INCORPORATED
INDEX
Item 2.02 |
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Results of Operations and Financial Condition
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Attached and incorporated herein by reference as
Exhibit 99.1 is a copy of the earnings release conference call transcript, dated May 11, 2005, reporting the Registrant's financial
results for the first quarter of 2005.
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Item 9.01 |
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Financial Statements and Exhibits
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. |
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(c)
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Exhibits
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Exhibit 99.1 Earnings release conference call transcript
dated May 11, 2005.
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SIGNATURES
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Pursuant to the requirements of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed
on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
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CHURCHILL DOWNS INCORPORATED
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May 17, 2005 |
/s/Michael E. Miller |
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Michael E. Miller
Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Conference Call Transcript May 11, 2005
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Moderator: Mike Ogburn
05-11-05/8:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 5125401
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Moderator: Mike Ogburn
May 11, 2005
8:00 a.m. CT
Operator: |
Good day and welcome to the Churchill Downs Incorporated conference call. Today's call is
being recorded.
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At
this time for opening remarks and introductions I would like to turn the call over to Mr.
Mike Ogburn. Please go ahead, sir.
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Mike Ogburn: |
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Good morning and welcome to this Churchill Downs Incorporated conference call to
review the Companys results for the first quarter of 2005. The results were released
yesterday afternoon in a press release that has been covered by the financial media. A
copy of this release announcing earnings and any other financial and statistical
information about the period to be presented in this conference call, including any
information required by Regulation G, is available at the section of the Companys
Web site entitled Investor Relations, located at churchilldownsincorporated.com. |
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Let
me also note a release has been issued advising of the accessibility of this conference
call on a listen-only basis over the Internet.
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As
we start, let me express that some statements made in this call will be forward-looking
statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements are statements that include projections, expectations, or
beliefs about future events or results or otherwise are not statements of historical fact.
Actual performance of the Company may differ materially from that projected in such
statements. Investors should refer to statements included in reports filed by the Company
with the Securities & Exchange Commission for a discussion of additional information
concerning factors that could cause our actual results of operations to differ materially
from the forward-looking statements in this call. The information being provided today is
of this date only, and Churchill Downs Incorporated expressly disclaims any obligation to
release publicly any updates or revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect
any changes in expectations.
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Ill
now turn the call to Tom Meeker, president and chief executive officer.
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Tom Meeker: |
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Thanks for joining us this morning to discuss the financial results of the first
quarter. During this mornings call, I will make some brief comments about the
financial results, and thereafter Mike Miller will give you the details. I also want to
report on the Derby Week business levels. Finally, I will close with some general comments
on what will be our focus on the quarters to come. |
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Not
withstanding the year-over-year increase in bottom line loss, Im very pleased with
the performance of the Company over the quarter. As you know, we typically report a loss
in the first quarter due to the fact that we are not engaged in live racing. However, this
year we did have 61 days of live racing at the Fair Grounds, and Im pleased to
report that the results were positive. For the quarter, the Louisiana operation produced
$1.6 million in EBITDA, far better than the years previous. Further, we had a very
successful Jazz Festival which will be reflected in our second quarter results, and we are
at the cusp of deploying new video poker machines in our OTB parlors, which should
increase the net win for machines as we move forward through the year.
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As
has been the case over the last five quarters, during this past quarter we continued to
make substantial investments in lobbying and development activities. For instance, in
Florida we spent $2.8 million on an unsuccessful referendum effort in Miami-Dade County.
We will continue to spend time and money in pursuit of favorable implementing legislation,
slot legislation, in Florida in anticipation of ultimately passing a referendum in
Miami-Dade in 2007.
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The
first quarter was also negatively impacted year-over-year by the loss of dark day monies
in Illinois. This was the result of the Illinois Racing Board decision last year to award
less dark time monies to Arlington Park in 2005. We hope to reverse this decision for
fiscal year 2006. There were other factors contributing to the loss, which Mike Miller
discuss with you in a few moments.
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Now
let me turn your attention to the events of last week. Without question and from any
perspective, Derby Week was a rousing success. Attendance and handle for the Derby and
Oaks days reached record levels. For the two days, we saw a 10.73-percent increase in
attendance, with 111,000 attending the Oaks and 156,000 customers attending the Derby. An
additional 16,000 fans watched the races at our Trackside facility. Total attendance for
the two days was 283,806, a North American record. The handle numbers were equally
impressive, as the two-day total handle from all sources was up 7.19 percent, reaching a
record total of $187 million. The Derby handle was a North American record with $103
million bet on the Derby, and $155 million was bet on the total card. Perhaps more
important was the increase in handle that occurred on track. On-track handle on Oaks and
Derby increased by 9.4 percent and 18.3 percent respectively. This is important because,
as you know, we enjoy better margins with the on-track wager versus a wager placed at a
remote location. The increase in on-track wagering can be directly attributed to the
increased deployment of self-serve machines, including our proprietary Bet Pro devices,
which were deployed in the premium seating areas.
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The
new facilities functioned very well during Derby Week. The clubhouse, Jockey Club Suites,
and Finish Line Suites were well received, and, most important, were sold out. Im
also pleased to report that we actually sold 11 additional Marqee Village units, bringing
the total sales to 54 for the week. This was remarkable considering the very successful
sale of PSLs, 63 Jockey Club Suites, and 15 Finish Line Suites all of which compete
for Marquee Village sales.
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The
Derby provided us with an opportunity to extend our brand to new customers, and in that
regard we successfully executed on that opportunity. For instance, we hosted a Digital
Derby summit where senior executives from technology companies such as Oracle, Sun, Xerox,
Gateway, EDS, Axiom, and IBM attended a day-long conference in Louisville. Various racing
executives appeared before some 200 technology-oriented guests and outlined various
opportunities in racing where technology can be deployed. Paula Zahn and Charlie Rose
moderated the days activities, and from all reports it was a great success and
hopefully some positive results will occur as the industry attempts to find and deploy new
technologies in the future.
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Our
Web site had 10.5 million visits, representing one million new unique customers. The
average time spent on the site was eight minutes and 39 seconds, compared to last
years five minutes and 40 seconds. This is a testament to the increased quality of
the content that was available on the site. We were also able to collect in excess of
20,000 new customer registrations during the week. During the NBC broadcast, our site was
serving over 6,700 hits per second. Overall, our Internet strategy is a critical component
of the CRM effort. We continue to believe that the Internet is a means to expand our
brand, create new customers, and, most important, gain valuable information about our
customers.
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Media
coverage for this years Kentucky Derby Week reached an all-time high. In addition to
the typical print coverage we receive, this years Kentucky Derby found its way on
television shows like the Today Show with live cut-ins, David Lettermans
Late Night show, and The Tonight Show. This was not fortuitous. It
was part of our overall effort to expand the footprint of the CDI brand to a broader
demographic.
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During
Derby week, we announced two extensions of critical media and sponsorship arrangements
with NBC and Visa. While Visa opted not to continue the Triple Crown Challenge
sponsorship, Visa will for the next five years be a proud sponsor of the Kentucky Derby.
The media contract with our television partner NBC will be extended until 2010. And while
the Belmont Stakes will not be part of the NBC package next year and for the year
following, we are pleased that the Preakness will be. As for the Triple Crown Challenge,
CDI together with the Maryland Jockey Club and NYRA are looking for a new sponsor, and
hopefully in the months ahead we will find one.
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Now
let me make a few comments on the focus of the management team over the next three
quarters. Five of our seven tracks will open or have opened meets during the
second quarter. CDI will run 238 live racing programs during the second quarter and 204
live racing programs in the third quarter. While certainly not reaching the status of a
trend, the early results of second quarter are encouraging. The Churchill Downs meet
started strong and has built up a solid momentum. With the results we saw during Derby
Week, we look forward to a very successful year for this operation.
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Hoosier
Park started its meet and has shown very good results with on-track business levels up
marginally but simulcast sales up nine percent through the first 21 days of the meet.
Similarly, Hollywood and Calder are on target to do well during their meets.
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Our
CRM effort customer relationship management effort is well underway and we
have deployed various customer intelligence gathering technologies throughout the Company.
As we move into the second quarter, we expect to start seeing benefits from the CRM
investments, including the investments weve made in technology, people and training.
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Increasing
membership in our Twin Spires Club will continue to be a key strategy this year. It is
important that we gain as much information as we can about our customers, and the Twin
Spires affinity program provides us this opportunity. In essence, this is the crux of the
CRM effort gaining as much information as possible about our customer, segmenting
our customers in terms of value creation for the Company, and, most important, developing
the right products and services for each customer group.
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We
continue to keep a close eye on the events that are unfolding in Florida. Despite losing
the referendum in Miami-Dade, we believe that in the end we will be successful in passing
the referendum. With that in mind, we will continue to work closely with our pari-mutuel
partners in Florida with a view towards passing favorable implementing legislation for
slots. |
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In
Louisiana, we have obtained all the necessary gaming licenses including our racing,
video poker, and slot licenses needed to conduct operations at the Fair Grounds. We
are in the final stages of obtaining a conditional use permit to build the slot structure.
We are hopeful that the permit will be issued by mid-July, and assuming all goes well, we
will concentrate our efforts to bringing the 500-machine slot operation online by middle
to late next year.
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International
and domestic simulcast operations will continue to be a focus this year. As I reported to
you in our last call, while the international market is a large target for us and others
in the industry, it will be sometime before we can reasonably expect any significant
growth in that market due to a myriad of distribution and competitive issues attendant to
that business channel.
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Our
domestic simulcast strategy continues to focus on growing the market by increasing
distribution channels in the area of account wagering. Concomitantly, we will remain
focused on increasing our market share of the existing simulcast market under the guise of
our CRM effort and the Twin Spires Club program.
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During
2004, the Company implemented an aggressive management development and succession planning
effort. Under that program, which continues today, we have filled and will fill a number
of identified weaknesses on our management team. And that again will be a key focus in
2005.
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On
some other notes, while rumors continue to circulate about our plans for Hollywood Park,
let me simply state that we will continue to explore various options and we continue to
explore various options. Beyond that I have no comment.
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We
continue to work on reshaping the industrys tote system, and that effort will
continue in 2005. Developing a new tote system industry-wide is a fundamental imperative
for the industry. CDI will continue to aggressively pursue this effort, and hopefully
within the coming weeks news will be forthcoming in this area.
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In
conclusion, Im pleased with the performance of the Company during the first quarter.
Further, early results from the second quarter demonstrate that we are achieving good
momentum. Our challenge for the year is to build on this momentum, continue to build our
brand, and, most important, successfully implement our CRM strategy.
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And
now let me turn the call over to Mike Miller, our chief financial officer. Mike.
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Mike Miller: |
Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone.
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I
will highlight our financial performance for the first quarter, our financial position at
the end of the quarter, and then Tom and I will entertain your questions.
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First
as to operating performance. If you would please refer to the supplemental information by
operating unit found in the release, Ill discuss both revenues and unit EBITDA. As a
reminder, our revenues for the first quarter, aside from the Fairgrounds operation, are
primarily from import simulcasting as there is very little live racing. We are very
pleased that our October 4, 2004 acquisition of the Fair Grounds has helped to fill this
gap, and you can see the obvious impact that this addition has had as reflected on the
Louisiana operations line as well as the increase in our CDSN revenues.
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Overall,
the total pari-mutuel industry was down approximately six percent for the quarter,
apparently due to the weakness in the Santa Anita and Gulfstream meets, and all of our
units felt the impact of this softness. In addition, we were also impacted by shifts in
our racing calendar with eight fewer live racing days at Hoosier Park. Our Arlington Park
unit lost approximately $4.4 million in revenues as a result of the loss of the dark day
monies to which Tom alluded. We are hopeful in the future of successfully receiving some
or all of these monies, but it is currently not possible to predict the success of this
effort.
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For
the first quarter in Louisiana, approximately 86 percent of our revenues are from the
racing operations and 14 from the operation of our video poker machines, or VLTs. We are
currently in the process of replacing a significant number of out-dated machines and fully
expect that we can significantly improve the historic net win per day.
|
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Moving
down to EBITDA. For racing operations other than Louisiana, our EBITDA loss increased from
approximately $11 to $14.9 million, exacerbated by the $2.8 million expense in Florida for
the referendum. When we are not racing, our cost structure is largely fixed and thus far
less sensitive to revenue fluctuations. In Louisiana, the EBITDA margin percent for the
quarter was nearly 10 percent, which is not a performance that is acceptable to us in the
long-term but which is an improvement from an historic perspective. In the recent past,
the racing operation had an annual EBITDA deficit of between three and four million and
the video poker operation provided approximately two million of EBITDA annually. The
margin performance for CDSN of 24 percent is consistent with its historic performance and
reflects our ability to increase pricing on the Fair Grounds product as it was
incorporated into our branded CDSN platform.
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Our
corporate expenses increased by $1.4 million from 2004 to 2005. This increase is
attributable to several factors: an increase of approximately $630,000 in employee
compensation and benefits, which is driven by filling key positions after the first
quarter of 2004, including the rounding out of our CRM development team. This area was
also impacted by normal salary increases as well as the amortization of the 2004
restricted stock plan. Sarbanes-Oxley expenses also are a large portion of this variance
approximately $520,000 increase year over year. We currently estimate that the
total cost of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, including allocated internal costs, could
approach $1 million annually. The balance of the increase is made up of many items, the
most significant of which are our increased development expenses and our start-up costs
related to Louisiana, totaling approximately $200,000. Finally on this page, the
approximate $630,000 increase in depreciation is largely the result of the Fair Grounds
acquisition. |
|
Now
if you turn back to the statement of net loss you will see that our interest expense
nearly doubled year over year. This is attributable both to the leverage and the increased
pricing brought about by the October 4 action of Fair Grounds. Our interest pricing is
dependent upon our leverage ratios, and thus we expect to obtain more favorable levels and
thus more favorable over time as we continue to apply our free cash flow to reduce our
debt levels. At the pre-tax level, our loss increased by $5.3 million, which is a function
of all the fluctuations I have discussed but can be distilled to a few significant items:
the loss of the dark day monies in Illinois; the Florida legislative initiative; and the
increased interest costs. I believe it is important to separately consider these items in
assessing the strength of our core operations. Overall, aside from the impact of the items
I just enumerated, our operating results were sufficient to cover our increased expenses
from Sarbanes and our additional investments in CRM and development initiatives. The
effective income tax rate increased by approximately four percentage points as a function
of the non-deductibility of a significant portion of the legislative costs. |
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If
you would now turn the balance sheet, Ill discuss the major differences between our
financial position at December 31 and at the end of first quarter. There are two primary
messages here, timing and investment. Our total assets shrunk by $12 million, which is a
function of liquidating race meet receivables which existed at Calder and Hollywood at
year end, offset by $15 million in capital spending, $12 million of which was spent on the
Master Plan at Churchill Downs. At this point, let me state that aside from completing
some punch list items, the Master Plan has been completed prior to the opening the meet
and well within the original $121 million budget.
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Total
liabilities and equity obviously decreased by the same $12 million which is the result of
the timing issue just discussed above offset by the collection of Derby and Oaks-related
deferred revenues and a reduction in equity resulting from the first-quarter loss. Our
debt-to-capital ratio increased only two percentage points from December, from 50 to 52
percent, in spite of the loss and the $15 million in capital expenditures. Management of
our balance sheet continues to be a priority.
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That
concludes my remarks on the financial statements. Looking ahead, we promised during our
last call that we would continue to provide you with information on business trends,
legislative changes, and capital spending. With respect to business trends, it is too
early in our live meet schedules to predict trends, although we are buoyed by the terrific
results of the Oaks and Derby. We should be better positioned by the end of the second
quarter to give you our overall views on business levels, although we still intend to not
provide either quarterly or annual EPS guidance. As to legislative matters, I would refer
you to Toms comments as well as the 10-Q, which was filed last night for a
comprehensive overview of these matters.
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For
capital spending, we currently anticipate expenditures in the range of $49 to $55 million
for the full year, with $24 million of that being attributable to the Master Plan and
approximately $15 million in Louisiana. The timing of the Louisiana expenditures is
dependent upon the completion of the conditional use permit process, which is currently
underway.
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I
have one last item to report, and that is an update on the evaluation of our internal
controls. At our report for the period ending December 31, we reported two material
weaknesses in internal controls. I am very pleased to report that one of these was
remediated during the quarter and the other, which is related to our tote vendors, should
be resolved later this year. Management is fully committed to producing a clean report for
2005.
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That
concludes my remarks, and now I will turn it back over to the operator for your questions.
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Operator: |
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Thank you. Our question and answer session will be conducted electronically. If you would
like to ask a question at this time, you may signal by pressing the star key
followed by the digit one on your telephone keypad. If you are using as
speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned on to allow your signal to
reach our equipment. Once again, that is star one. |
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Well
first take a question from Ryan Worst, C.L. King.
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Ryan Worst: |
Hi, thanks. In regards to corporate expenses, you said Sarbanes-Oxley was $520,000 in the
first quarter?
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Ryan Worst: |
Is that right, Mike?
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Mike Miller: |
Yes, it is Ryan.
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Ryan Worst: |
But going forward that should be a little bit lower.
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Mike Miller: |
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We certainly hope so and expect so. The first year should be the worst year for
everybody, and we should be no exception to that. |
Ryan Worst: |
Right. I mean, beyond the first quarter, though.
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Ryan Worst: |
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And is there any other items that were higher in the first quarter than they will
be in the rest of the year as far as maybe CRM costs? |
Mike Miller: |
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Well, not really. I mean, during 04 we rounded out our complement of CRM.
And so all those people are in place and should continue at a run rate for the balance of
the quarter. Now, we wont have the legislative costs that we had in the first
quarter, although as weve stated in the past that could change. I mean, well
continue to be opportunistic and invest when it makes sense to invest. And we may incur
some expenses in the efforts of our total consortium down near Tallahassee to get the
legislation passed. |
Ryan Worst: |
|
Right. Well, in the first quarter, was there any of those legislative expenses in
the corporate expense line or were they all at the Calder line? |
Mike Miller: |
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They were Calder. |
Ryan Worst: |
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All right, OK. OK, and how did the vote go yesterday in the New Orleans city
council as far as your expansion, getting the OK for that? |
Tom Meeker: |
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We got a favorable vote passed out. They approved our plan. The conditions that
they articulated included five days a week, essentially 14 hours a day and 16 hours a day
on the weekends for two days. |
Mike Miller: |
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Ryan, let me just correct something. That wasn't the council. That was the planning
commission. |
Tom Meeker: |
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Oh, excuse me, yes. |
Mike Miller: |
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So the recommendations will then
go to the city council. |
Tom Meeker: |
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The next step is to appear before the city council, and that is to occur by mid-
to late June. I dont know the specific dates. |
Ryan Worst: |
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And which regulatory body sets the number of days? |
Tom Meeker: |
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The city council. It is part of the conditional use permit. They assign the
conditional permit on certain things, security being one, hours of operation being
another. |
Ryan Worst: |
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So the plan commission, they just kind of make a recommendation? That was there
recommendation, five days. |
Tom Meeker: |
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Yes, that is correct. |
Tom Meeker: |
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And the council can accept that recommendation or change the conditions, increase
the number of hours. |
Ryan Worst: |
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OK. And then the $24 million of cap ex for Churchill Downs was that all in
the first quarter or do you have more of that spending through the rest of the year? |
Mike Miller: |
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About half was in the first quarter and the other half will be primarily, if not
totally, in the second quarter. |
Ryan Worst: |
|
OK. And then one last question, Tom could you just go over your objectives
for the new tote system, what you guys expect to accomplish? |
Tom Meeker: |
|
Well, a couple of things. First, we need a large block of through-put to give to a
tote vendor so that they have a book of business that they can take and bank it and obtain
the necessary capital to design and build a new system. The system itself I think has to
have a couple of features to it. Number one, the override being security, it has to be a
very secure system. Secondly, it has to have an open architecture on the front end. And by
that I mean we have to have the ability, which doesnt exist today, to be able to
plug in customer interfaces of various ilk, be it a PDA or a self-serve machine. And
today, as you know, for instance, if youre a United Tote or have a contract with the
United Tote and they operate your system on track, then the only customer interface that
we can hook up on track would be a United Tote customer interface. Where, unlike a casino,
where you may have centralized computer and various machines of various manufacturers on
the floor, we dont have that capability. So we need an open architecture for the
customer interface. |
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The
third thing we need is we need a black box. The transactional part of the system has to be
more rationally configured than it currently exists today. Today we have 52 hubs spread
throughout the United States, and we think that one hub could do it with perhaps a remote
hub for redundancy. And in that hub, all of the transactions and all of the bet files
would be located, in contrast to what is occurring today, where bet files are actually
maintained in the remote hubs and then data is transmitted on various sequencing protocols
over the course of every minute or two minutes.
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Then
the fourth thing we need is on the rear end of it we need a data output that would go to
the office of wagering security, which will be able to monitor all of the wagering
activities from the standpoint of overall security and integrity. Number two, consistent
with our CRM demands, we need to get significant data points on customers, how they bet,
data files that we can use to connect to our CRM system. And then the third thing we need
on the back end is, of course, the reporting data that we need for regulatory purposes as
well as internal purposes to maintain the accounting trail.
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So
those are the key components. There are some other components, including networking
components, how we interface currently today and the various communication interfaces
among the hubs including all sorts of land lines and manual systems. And we need to get
that rationalized to make sure that we have a secure and timely communication network that
we can hook everybody up to so that we avoid the problems that exist today in the industry
with late odds changes after a race has gone off. And thats a function of this sort
of Rube Goldberg configuration we find ourselves in today.
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Mike Miller: |
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Ryan, just a reminder, it is not just Churchill weve stated this
before but we are part of a five-member consortium which includes Woodbine and NYRA
and Magna and New Jersey. So were all supporting this effort. So were really
looking here for an industry solution, not just a Churchill solution. |
Ryan Worst: |
|
Right. And how long before do you think this new system is in place? I mean, are we
talking five years or |
Tom Meeker: |
|
No, I would hope there are a couple of things. One, theres the whole
notion of building the thing and how long that would take. And thats probably a
year. Theres also existing contracts that all of the members of the coalition are
currently under with various tote vendors. And thats probably good, because we can
in an orderly way start moving the industry to a common system over the course of time.
But I would hope that were looking at a time frame and dont hold me to
this but something in the two- to three-year range for full deployment. |
Ryan Worst: |
|
OK, great. Thanks. |
Operator: |
|
Moving on, we'll hear from Larry Klatzkin, Jeffries & Company. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
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Hey, guys. A couple of things. Legalizing gaming in Ohio seems to be talked
about, and you guys have a property up there. Could you talk about whats going on
there? |
Mike Miller: |
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We don't have a property there, Larry. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
You - oh, you got - I thought you guys were looking at something up in the Cleveland
area? |
Tom Meeker: |
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No, you're confused with Magna. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
OK. I apologize. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
This is the Churchill Downs .. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
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I know, I know, I know. |
Mike Miller: |
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Although we expect
|
Larry Klatzkin: |
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.... were taking a look at some properties out there. Am I mistaken on that you've been
looking at possible properties? |
Mike Miller: |
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We don't have any comment about such matters as that, Larry. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
OK. All right, then OK. As far as any interim session in Maryland, is
there a chance that they bring out a session before next year and discuss the issue again? |
Tom Meeker: |
|
Again, I think youre about two weeks later. That question is better
addressed to Magna. Our interest we have no interest or we have no
investments in Maryland. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
No, I know, but Im just trying to look at OK. OK, the last question
obviously is Florida and the Miami area. And is there anything sooner than two years they
can do something? |
Tom Meeker: |
|
No. From the Miami-Dade perspective, it is two years before we can go back to the
electorate with a referendum. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
All right. Thank you very much, guys. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
OK. I apologize that... |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
No, I thought you were looking I had heard stories that you guys were
looking actively at a property in Ohio, and I was more inquiring about what was going on
with that and whether theres some movement on whats going on in the state. |
Larry Klatzkin: |
|
Sorry you can't address it. |
Operator: |
|
And as a final reminder, that is star one. |
|
|
Well now hear from Tim Rice, Rice Voelker. |
Tim Rice: |
|
Good morning. A couple questions. One, regarding your EBITDA margin, are you willing
to comment about, assuming no alternative gaming legislation in the states you operate,
what is achievable in terms of upward potential in that system-wide. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
I'm having trouble hearing him. |
Mike Miller: |
|
Well, its hard to generalize that. I think you need to go unit by unit and
look at our racetracks in our CDSN unit and look what theyve done historically, and
you can sort of see the trends there. And I think youll see from that that there are
some units obviously which perform not as well as others. Arlington Park comes to mind.
And so we think there are improvements there at certain individual levels. What that
translates to overall, Tim, Im not sure. I dont have a number here. But we
still continue to focus on that, we focus particularly in Illinois, in Louisiana, and to a
lesser degree in Kentucky as Ellis Park is part of our Kentucky operations. But I
dont have an overall answer. |
Tim Rice: |
|
OK. Second question. Do you see any potential for any additional racing days at the Fair Grounds? |
Mike Miller: |
|
Well, I'll let Tom talk to that. I don't imagine we would push for that. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
Not right now. Our objective in the Fair Grounds well, we have several
one is get the slot operation up and running as quickly as possible. Number two, to
materially improve and this is consistent with the first objective the
racing program there, which we made great strides at during its inaugural meet under our
ownership. Once we get that thing running properly, then we can look at the question of
expanding days. But, in the short term, I dont see that occurring. |
Mike Miller: |
|
Tim, there are four tracks in Louisiana, and I believe they each run 80 days. So there's
plenty of racing going on down there. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
And of course those tracks right now currently have the benefit of slot revenue to
support their purse programs. |
Tim Rice: |
|
One last question involves the broadcast of the Derby. I dont know if you got
a chance to review the TV broadcast yet, but as someone whos been involved with
horse racing all my life, I have to admit I found the transmission of the actual race
extremely difficult to watch and observe the horses I was interested in. And Ive had
similar comments from other people. And Im not sophisticated on TV graphics and that
sort of thing, but it seems to me that when ABC did the broadcast it was much more
viewer-friendly. Have you heard this from other people? And if so, is it being addressed? |
Tom Meeker: |
|
Right. There were two things with the broadcast that were problematic. The first
was the one you mentioned. The graphics package didnt show up and the call of the
race was a little muddled. That was inconsistent with prior years where NBC did a terrific
job. Thats easily solved. The other thing well, let me stop there and back
up. We are chatting with NBC about new technology deployment in terms of production which
would involve better camera angles, different cameras, et cetera, which should enhance the
view of the race. But I think your comment is dead on. There were some problems with the
graphics presentation of the Derby itself. |
|
Now,
its a difficult proposition when you have 20 horses running around in a circle
getting them all right. But not withstanding, that needs to be improved. The other problem
we had this time was the audio on My Old Kentucky Home. From the time the
bugler played until My Old Kentucky Home was to have run and the band played
in the infield, we had an accident where someone hit a telephone pole and a transformer
went down, and we had to switch to an auxiliary power source. And apparently the Siemens
equipment didnt run up the computer didnt reboot and we lost the
house feed on My Old Kentucky Home. And it was from that feed that NBC would
have taken the running of the song.
|
|
And
so two things were clearly identified by several callers who chatted with me. I have not
seen the telecast, but
|
Tim Rice: |
|
OK, thanks very much. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
Sure enough. I appreciate that. |
Operator: |
|
There are no further questions at this time. I'll turn it back over to you, Tom Meeker, for
any additional closing comments. |
Tom Meeker: |
|
Well, again, thank you for joining us this morning. Obviously we are very pleased
with the performance of the Churchill Downs racetrack with regards to the Kentucky Derby.
And, again, I reinforce the statements I made and Mike made earlier, and that is we do
seem to have gained a little bit of momentum and we look forward to a terrific 2005. |
|
And
so with that I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you or talking to you at our
next meeting in about three months. Thank you.
|
Operator: |
|
That does conclude today's conference call. We thank you for your participation. You may
now disconnect at this time. |
END