Las Vegas Sands outlines plans for Macau

Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 | 9:27 a.m.

See the Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing

Headlines from the Vegas gaming industry

Las Vegas Sands Corp. today released detailed information on its operations in the Chinese gambling district of Macau as it seeks to raise some $2.5 billion in a public stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company said it completed its listing committee hearing with the exchange on Thursday and that the listing application for its subsidiary, Sands China Ltd., still awaits formal approval.

As part of the process, Sands posted a lengthy "Web Proof Information Pack" on the Web site of the exchange.

The information pack projects 2009 adjusted EBITDAR -- a profitability measure -- of $803 million from Las Vegas Sands' Macau operations.

Net revenue in 2008 for Las Vegas Sands in Macau was $3.053 billion and adjusted EBITDAR was $686 million, up 55.3 percent and 33.4 percent, respectively, from 2007.

Las Vegas Sands intends to use some of the funds raised -- a projected $2.5 billion according to the Associated Press and Bloomberg News -- to repay debt and resume construction of suspended Macau projects.

"We are the leading developer, owner and operator of integrated resorts and casinos in Macau as measured by EBITDA for ... 2008 and the six months ended June 30, 2009," Sands China said in its filing. "We are the largest operator of integrated resorts in Macau, which contain not only gaming areas but also meeting space, convention and exhibition halls, retail and dining areas and entertainment venues. We believe that our integrated resorts are unique to Macau and are what differentiate us from our competitors."

The company's operating assets in Macau are the Venetian Macao, the Sands Macao and the Plaza, a resort with a Four Seasons Hotel and the Plaza Casino.

In the third quarter, revenue at the Venetian Macao fell 5.5 percent to $493.6 million, but rose 13 percent to $280.8 million at Sands Macao and was up 37.8 percent to $67.1 million at the Four Seasons Macao and Plaza Casino.

Las Vegas Sands stock traded this morning at $14.45 -- about even from Thursday, when the company reported a quarterly loss of $123 million as revenue rose 3.2 percent to $1.14 billion.

The stock opened higher Friday but then fell as analysts weighed in on the quarterly results.

Sands in its earnings conference call offered an optimistic assessment for its Venetian and Palazzo resort complex in Las Vegas even as the city struggles during the recession and faces the challenge of filling more hotel rooms as MGM Mirage's CityCenter and other projects open.

Sands China's definition of adjusted EBITDAR is "profit before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (net of amortization of show production costs), pre-opening expense, development expense, net foreign exchange losses (gains), loss on disposal of property and equipment, corporate expense, land lease expense, share-based compensation and fair value losses (gains) on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss."

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

By rejco100

11/2/09 at 10:48 a.m.

Suggest removal

TOP SECRET

Sand's Plans:

Get rid of Highly Toxic & Nose-Diving US Properties & Employees by any means possible.

End of Plans.
By doubledown_deadender

11/2/09 at 2:16 p.m.

Suggest removal

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=n...
By wizardofOz

11/2/09 at 8:39 p.m.

Suggest removal

READ THIS NOW:

"..."Whether or not Macao passed Las Vegas last year is just a headline," said Harry Curtis, a gambling analyst at J.P. Morgan. "The fact is, as we stand today, Macao is going to be a bigger market than Las Vegas. And by the end of the decade it could be twice the size of Las Vegas."

Hoping to cash in on the city's gold rush, some of the world's biggest casino operators, including Las Vegas tycoons like Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn and Kirk Kerkorian, have agreed to invest more than $20 billion to outfit the city with new luxury hotels, mega-casinos and VIP suites to cater to the enormous gambling appetite of the Chinese, many of whom have only recently been granted permission to travel to Macao.

Macao is the only place in China where gambling is legal, and last year the city attracted more than 22 million visitors, mostly from China...."

NOW YOU KNOW WHY ADELSON, WYNN, KERKORIAN COULD GIVE A RAT'S ASH ABOUT FUNDING THE SORRY EDUCATION IN NEVADA. SURPRISED? WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO DO THAT WITH THIS KIND OF "ACTION" AND PROTECTION FROM THE COMMUNISTS.

OH, BY THE WAY, THE ARTICE IS FROM ALMOST 3 YEARS AGO (NY Times January 2007):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/busine...
By BorisR

11/3/09 at 12:32 a.m.

Suggest removal

3 years ago, they did not know that the Chinese government was to cut the number of visa being issued to the mainland Chinese. This has a huge impact of the visitor figures in Macau. It is therefore essential for these corporations to keep up excellent networking and communication with the Chinese government.
This Sands China I.P.O. is another way of raising funds instead of undergoing another corporate action and there will be enough fools in the pond buying into this stock.
To the people with serious concern, feel free to check back with the Wynn Macau stock quote. It hasn't gone up since the IPO. In fact, it's going South.
By rodtig

11/4/09 at 10 p.m.

Suggest removal

What will Wynn, Adelson,Kerkorian dowhen the communist goverment of China decides it wants all the pie and take the mega resorts away from them.
Don't think they want.Under communism regime they are taking big risks and once they tick off the Chinese and they will then they will be shafted. Big mistake for these corperations to invest so much.And now they are letting Vegas be a thing of the past.Way to go moroons.
By BorisR

11/6/09 at 3:52 a.m.

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Las Vegas Sands has a back-up plan...
The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has such a phantastic location that it can't impossibly be not successful.
The banking system in the US and EU doesn't function well anymore and the wealthy are transfering their funds to Singapore these days. More and more banks are opening branch offices in Singapore, and more and more Asians are getting richer and richer. Singapore will be the new financial center of the world and Adelson made a smart move by predicting this scenario. His location in the Marina Bay area is so unique and if you think about, this, along with the situation in Macau will keep the company above water, even if the Vegas casinos are not halfway as successful. Hopefully there will be another correction on Wall Street. I would buy LVS at 7 dollars/share.