Boyd Gaming Corporation (BYD) has reported a 6.93 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has earned $35.49 million, or $0.31 a share in the quarter, compared with $33.19 million, or $0.29 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $37.45 million, or $0.32 a share compared with $25.51 million or $0.22 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 9.59 percent to $605.34 million from $552.38 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 152 basis points over the previous year period to 48.09 percent. Total expenses were 84.33 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 85.11 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 78 basis points in operating margin to 15.67 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $94.87 million, compared with $82.25 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $155.80 million compared with $137.69 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 81 basis points in the quarter to 25.74 percent from 24.93 percent in the last year period.

Keith Smith, president and chief executive officer of Boyd Gaming, said: "Thanks to the continued strength of our operations, our successful acquisitions, and the significant progress we have made deleveraging our balance sheet, we are now able to reinstitute a program of returning capital to our shareholders. We believe a balanced approach of deleveraging, investment in organic growth projects, and opportunistic acquisitions - combined with the return of a portion of our free cash flow to shareholders - is the right strategy to maximize long-term shareholder value."