Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) And your first question comes from the line of Felicia Hendrix with Barclays Capital.
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
Hi, guys.
Dan Lee
Hi, Felicia.
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
Dan, you took the cake on this one.
Dan Lee
What do you mean?
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
(inaudible).
Dan Lee
You mean because we are up and our competitors are down? Isn't that the way it's supposed to work?
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
No, an hour.
Dan Lee
Oh, okay, an hour, sorry.
Steve Capp
It's a pretty big quarter, Felicia, a lot of activity.
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
Clearly, clearly. I just want to get back to some of your operating results. Just at L'Auberge, clearly the results are impressive and we can see the revenues kind of trending in January, that those are strong also. But just as I look at the margins in the quarter, there were the highest the property has ever generated. So I'm wondering how you are thinking about that going forward.
Dan Lee
L'Auberge?
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
Yes.
Dan Lee
Well, the additional rooms are a pretty profitable business. I mean, margins are held down by food and beverage, golf, and stuff like that.
Alain Uboldi
It is still improving. The margin is still improving as we go along. If you look at L'Auberge when they opened, it took time for such a big property to get the right margin. But I think we are moving somewhat higher and we always say, because of all what is around L'Auberge, the golf, the spa, all the rest of them, the margin should be around, in GGR, 28%. And we're coming close to that.
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
Okay, that’s exactly what I was looking – okay. And just on Belterra, do you guys have to kind of just really wait to write out all of the new competition and let that anniversary? I know you talked about some topline stuff that you can do, but is there a way you can squeeze better profitability out of that just in this competitive time period?
Dan Lee
Really [ph] big trucks and drag closer to Cincinnati? I mean, we are going to renovate parts of the casino. I think we are the pre-eminent high-end weekend getaway price and we want to make sure we hold that position. The Argosy boat is going to be large in one level, but they are still going to have their convoluted parking garages and their kind of strange little hotel that is quite a bit removed from the boat. So we have a good concentration of activity. The Tom Fazio golf course is connected right to the property and everything. So we want to make sure we stay in that niche that we are in, and part of that is to make sure we maintain the quality of the facility.
But we are in a tide that is going out. So, I don't think we go back to $40 million in EBDIT anytime soon. And because of the state legalizing additional slot machines and also Kentucky and Ohio, we're always talking about it, and almost every year they both talk about it. We're just pretty hesitant to invest large sums of money in Belterra. So, it is what it is.
Felicia Hendrix – Barclays Capital
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