Third quarter earnings for Las Vegas Sands declined due to a 46 per cent drop in profit at its Macau unit, though the figure was better than expected and Singapore proved a bright spot.
Adjusted net income decreased to $529.8m, or $0.66 per diluted share, compared to $675.7m, or $0.84 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2014. That beat estimates compiled by Capital IQ by three cents.
Net revenue for the third quarter of 2015 decreased 18.1 per cent to $2.89bn, below estimates of $2.95bn.
Consolidated adjusted property EBITDA of $1.05bn decreased 18 per cent. Net revenues for Sands China decreased 28.8 per cent to $1.66bn with adjusted property EBITDA down 32.8 per cent to $545mi. Net income decreased 46.8 per cent to $343.2m.
“While the operating environment in Macau, particularly in the high-end gaming segments, remained challenging during the quarter, our focus on the higher margin mass and non-gaming segments and the geographic diversification of our cash flows allowed us to again deliver in excess of $1bn of adjusted property EBITDA during the quarter and weather this cyclical downturn better than the industry overall,” chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said in a statement.
“With Studio City opening next week and several other properties opening in the next few months, LVS noted that the additional supply will grow the Macau market in the long term but it’s not clear if it will happen when the properties first open,” said analyst Robin Farley.
Despite the negative impact of the stronger US dollar, adjusted property EBITDA at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore increased 10.8 per cent year-on-year to $389.7m in the current quarter, driven by growth in mass play from visitors to Singapore and healthy rolling chip volume.
Source: Asia Gaming Brief
