Stuart and Brenda Spaude play Wednesday in The Mirage's high-limit slot room. The hotel-casino's parent, MGM Mirage, said Thursday that first-quarter earnings rose from a year earlier. Photo by John Locher.

First-quarter profits increased nearly 30 percent at MGM Mirage, the world's second-largest gaming company, largely because of its merger last year with Mandalay Resort Group, company executives said Thursday.

Net income increased to $144 million in the quarter ended March 31, up 29.7 percent from $111.1 million a year earlier.

Earnings per share increased to 49 cents a share, up 28.9 percent from 38 cents a share a year earlier. The most recent results included stock-compensation expenses of 5 cents a share.

Wall Street analysts had expected 52 cents a share before one-time adjustments, Reuters Estimates said.

MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni said the earnings were a record for any quarter in the company's history.

"(The performance was) positively impacted by the acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group," he said.

Four of Mandalay's five Strip properties had significantly improved performances, with only Circus Circus earnings remaining flat, he said.

MGM Mirage's quarterly revenue rose 56 percent to $1.9 billion from $1.2 billion.

Same-store revenues rose to $1.2 billion in the quarter, up 4 percent over last year and an all-time quarterly record for the company.

Brian Gordon, a partner in Las Vegas-based financial consultants Applied Analysis, said there have been clear corporate efficiencies from the MGM-Mandalay merger, as well as the Coast Casinos-Boyd Gaming Corp. and Harrah's Entertainment-Caesars Entertainment mergers.

"We'll continue to see these gains on a go-forward basis," he said.

Bear Stearns analyst Joe Greff overall called it "a reasonable OK quarter" for the company.

Revenue per available room, for example, increased only 3 percent on a same-store basis at Strip properties compared with the year before. By contrast, RevPAR increased 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared with the year before.

Still, Greff said the results were largely in line with expectations and "better than recently tame investor expectations."

"What was stronger than expected was the performance of the Mandalay properties," he said.

Otherwise, while the performance was strong, it was modest compared with prospects for the second quarter, Greff said.

Gordon said MGM Mirage deserves credit for beating tough comparisons from last year when records also were set, and for beating new competition in the marketplace, especially from Wynn Las Vegas, which opened a year ago.

Lanni said that, besides the Mandalay buyout, new amenities at individual properties also boosted the performance of MGM Grand, The Mirage and Treasure Island, all of which were owned by MGM Mirage before the merger.

MGM Mirage President Jim Murren said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts that the merger with Mandalay so far has added $145 million a year in synergies, or cost and revenue efficiencies, to MGM Mirage's performance, up from $135 million in synergies reported at the end of 2005.

"I like the trend. We're working on a lot of initiatives, including many purchasing and information technology initiatives, which we believe will make that number continue to grow," he said.

Murren said that combining operations is likely to yield $200 million a year in synergies as loyalty programs, room management systems and procurement savings increase.

Lanni said convention-business improvements also added to the company's record financial performance.

"In the convention business, Mandalay was perceived as an order taker and we're perceived as going out to bring business in (so) we've been able to enhance our convention business," he said.

Matthew Jacob, senior gaming analyst at Majestic Research, said revenues were in line with expectations, but that the margins at the individual properties were better than expected, across-the-board.

"(MGM Mirage) is continuing to show growth in Las Vegas despite concerns about the slowdown in the overall economy," he said.

Quarterly cash flow, defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, increased to $580.6 million, up 44 percent from $403.7 million a year earlier..

MGM Mirage said second-quarter earnings-per-share should be 50 cents, including an anticipated stock-compensation expense of $19 million, or 4 cents per share. The estimate also included 6 cents per share to 8 cents per share in other charges.

"The current quarter looks better than the last quarter and the last quarter was pretty darn good," Murren said. "And the momentum is expected to continue throughout the year."

Greff called the second-quarter outlook solid and said it is being driven by solid trends on the Strip.

MGM Mirage closed at $44.60, up 66 cents, or 1.5 percent, on 1.8 million shares traded. The average analyst target price for the stock is $48 a share.