Las Vegas Sands said while travel restrictions and reduced visitation continued to impact its performance during the first quarter, “robust” recovery in the tourism sector helped drive revenue up 124.8% year-on-year.
Many pandemic-related restrictions in Macau and Singapore have now been eased, but Sands said remaining measures, coupled with fewer visitors than before the outbreak of Covid-19, impacted operations in Q1.
However, with the situation improving and restrictions being eased on travel and tourism, this helped its performance year-on-year, with revenue more than doubling from Q1 of 2022.
“While travel restrictions and reduced visitation continued to impact financial performance during the quarter, a robust recovery in travel and tourism spending across our markets is now under way,” Sands chairman and chief executive Robert Goldstein said. “We remain enthusiastic about the opportunity to welcome more guests back to our properties throughout 2023 and in the years ahead.
“In Singapore, we were pleased to see the ongoing recovery at Marina Bay Sands progress during the quarter, with the property again delivering outstanding levels of performance in both mass gaming and tenant sales. We remain energised by the opportunity to introduce our new suite product to more customers as airlift capacity continues to improve and the recovery in travel and tourism spending from China and the wider region continues.
“In Macau, we were pleased to see the ongoing recovery now under way in all gaming and non-gaming segments accelerate during the quarter. We remain deeply enthusiastic about the opportunity to continue our investments to enhance Macau’s tourism appeal to travellers from throughout the region, including to foreign visitors to Macau.”
Las Vegas Sands Q1
Revenue for the three months to 31 March amounted to $2.12bn (£1.71bn/€1.93bn), up from $943m in Q1 of last year, when Sands faced more measures and restrictions linked to the pandemic.
Casino revenue rocketed 145.8% to $1.45bn, while rooms revenue increased by 155.8% to $234m, food and beverage revenue 134.0% to $124m, mall revenue 8.7% to $162m and convention, retail and other revenue 163.2% to $50m.
Sands’ operations in Macau generated $1.28bn in revenue, an increase of 132.1% on last year, with The Venetian Macau being the primary source of revenue, posting $558m for the quarter.
In Singapore, Sands’ solitary Marina Bay Sands casino posted $848m in revenue, up 112.5% on the previous year. Sands also noted $48m in intercompany royalties and eliminated $55m worth of intersegment revenue.
Turning to costs, operating expenses were 39.9% up year-on-year to $1.74bn, with the main outgoing being resort operations at $1.34bn. Net financial costs were $183m, which left a pre-tax profit from continuing operations of $195m compared to a $476m loss in 2022.
Sands paid $50m in tax, leaving a $145m net profit from continuing operations, in contrast to a $478m loss in the previous year, while consolidated property adjusted EBITDA climbed 620.0% to $792m.
However, when Sands included the $2.86bn gain from the disposal of discontinued operations in the previous year, net profit was down 94.0%.
“Looking ahead, our resolute commitment to making industry-leading investments in our team members, our communities and our market-leading integrated resort property portfolio positions us exceptionally well to deliver strong growth in the years ahead,” Goldstein said.
“Our financial strength supports our ongoing investment and capital expenditure programmes in both Macau and Singapore, as well as our pursuit of growth opportunities in new markets.”
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