Las Vegas Sands is to “continue to build our digital presence” and will maintain an exploration of “multiple opportunities,” as the group also eyes land-based opportunities in Asia as well as across the US.
Regarding the latter, the operator is to embark on a $1bn renovation project of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, while in Macau the Londoner is said to be “near completion”.
Robert Goldstein, Chair and CEO of LVS, emphasised that the group’s “confidence in the long-term opportunity in Singapore remains deep,” after voicing hopes of a continued uptick in the recovery of both aforementioned jurisdictions in the near future.
“Our results continue to reflect the pandemic’s impact. Travel restrictions continue to affect visitation and our financial results in both Macao and Singapore this quarter,” he commented.
“We did generate some positive EBITDA for the quarter in both markets. We remain confident in the eventual recovery in both Macao and Singapore.”
“Adding: “We continue to have great optimism about our ability to perform to pre-pandemic levels once visitation returns. You may know our company is divided primarily into three material areas, the most important being Asia, the portfolio in Macao and Singapore.
“We remain confident we’ll return to strong positive cash flow in both Macao and Singapore in the future as restrictions are eased and travel and tourism recover.
“The sale of Las Vegas creates liquidity and optionality as we pursue additional large-scale, land-based destination resorts in the US and Asia.”
Regarding retail casino opportunities across the US, Goldstein adds that the firm remains “in the hunt” for a New York casino licence, as well as being focused on opportunities further afield.
“Well, New York has been on our radar for a long time. We continue to be in the hunt there. I don’t want to get into specific boroughs, locations,” it is noted.
“But we remain interested. I think it’s a huge market for us. We’ve been very clear about that in the past. The process is quite a long way to go.”
Furthermore, Goldstein also suggests that “any place there’s very large-scale buildings that can create large EBITDA” would interest LVS, with Texas and Florida also cited as regions that could deliver the return on investment sought by the company.
On the digital front, LVS asserts that it is “exploring multiple opportunities at this time” but is very much focused on building rather than buying.
Future potential investments, said Patrick Dumont, President and Chief Operating Officer of LVS, could be in “small companies where we think they have a competitive advantage” similar to its recent outlay in US Integrity.
The comments came as the company reports its financial performance through the year’s first quarter, with net revenue declining 27.25 per cent to $943m (2021: $1.2bn).
Reflecting Q1 struggles, net loss through the time frame swelled to $478m from 2021’s $280m, with adjusted EBITDA down 121.81 per cent to $110m (2021: $244m).
Revenue at Sands China dropped 40.94 per cent to $547m from the $771m reported one year earlier, with loss for SCL growing to $336m (2021: $213m).
