Honeymoon Over For Las Vegas Sands?

Written on February 6, 2007 by admin

Well not really a honeymoon, but it appears that competition is starting to bite. With another 4-6 casinos opening this year, including the massive Grand Lisboa before the Chinese New Year, it will be interesting to see what Las Vegas Sands Q-1 results is going to be. The Venetian Macao is scheduled for a soft opening later this year on a date to be announced.

Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s quarterly profit rose 3 percent as gamblers lost more money at its Vegas casino, but results from its property in fast-growing Macau fell short of investors’ expectations and its shares fell nearly 2 percent.

Sands’ fourth-quarter Macau operating income rose 6.5 percent to $99.4 million, while its Las Vegas operating income rose 73 percent to $111.8 million.

“Macau looked a little bit light, but similarly the Venetian was off the charts. They played extremely lucky in Las Vegas this quarter,” said Robert LaFleur, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial.

In Macau, where competitors Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Galaxy Entertainment Group opened casinos last autumn, casino revenue rose 27 percent to $343.3 million.

“In Macau the numbers were respectable, it’s just that there is more competition. It is still a very strong market,” Susquehanna’s LaFleur said.

Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas-based company’s founder, chairman and CEO, said “we’ve held our own against the new competition and significantly increased our high-end market share.”

Sands expects to open a Venetian resort in Macau this summer and is developing a string of casino resorts in a part of Macau dubbed the Cotai Strip. It is also awaiting government approval for a leisure resort and convention complex on Hengqin Island, off China’s southern coast, which Sands likens to a “Chinese Riviera.”