Atlantis parent's earnings up, fueling thoughts of expansion

The hotel, casino and restaurants at Atlantis Casino Resort all are running at nearly full speed.

Monarch Casino & Resort continues to pay down its debt as fast as it can.

So is the company getting into position for a significant expansion? Maybe.

"We have a lot of opportunities," says John Farahi, the chief executive officer and cochairman of Monarch Gaming."We are very lean, very strong financially."

The 16 acres of parking across Virginia Street from the hotel casino is zoned for an expansion of Atlantis.

The company also holds an option on land in south Reno that could be used for development of an entirely new hotel and casino.

Monarch last week reported earnings of $5.5 million on revenues of $40.4 million for the third quarter, up sharply from the $3.66 million the company earned on revenues of $36.5 million it earned in the same period a year ago.

Farahi noted about 52 percent of the additional revenue flowed the bottom line, and that resulted in operating margins of 25.1 percent an increase of 5.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

He said that hotel occupancy during the quarter was in the mid-90 percent range, and hotel revenues rose 12.2 percent from the third quarter of 2003.

Casino revenue was up 13.8 percent for the quarter and food and beverage revenue rose by 5.9 percent.

With those earnings,Monarch continued to put the pedal to the metal as it repays money it borrowed for its last big expansion project in 1998 and 1999.

During the quarter,Monarch reduced its bank debt by $6.5 million.

In the first nine months of the year, the company reduced its debt by $14.2 million.

Farahi noted that the company's long-term debt on Sept.

30 stood at $32.8 million a figure that's 95 percent of its earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization for the trailing 12 months.

And as debt goes down, so does the company's interest expense further boosting Monarch's net.