LVS YOUTUBE

In preparation for LVS's 3Q earnings release tomorrow, we’ve put together the recent pertinent forward looking company commentary

 

Post Earnings Commentary - DB AG/ UBS/ CLSA Conferences and LVS Investor Day

GENERAL

• “There was a general consensus that the company should consider – seriously consider paying a dividend in 2012. We would expect to make any announcements regarding a dividend sometime in 2012."
• “A significant amount of capital requirements were going out over the last number of years...are going down.  We do have an annual cash requirement of somewhere around $300 million to $400 million for maintenance of our buildings and things like that to keep them competitive, which we now have the cash to do.”

MACAU               

• “We haven’t seen any indicators of any slowdown in Macau.  Obviously, it’s hard to say that business is going to continue to go at 45% to 50% growth rates.”
• [Typhoon impact] “It had absolutely zero negative impact on our business.”
• “The Conrad and Holiday Inn will open sometime by the end of the first quarter of ‘12.  That will be 600 Conrad rooms and 1,200 or so Holiday Inn rooms, and one casino and a full complement of VIP space with about 100 some-odd tables in VIP, a little bit more than that.  The second phase will open at the end of the third quarter, which will be 2,000 Sheraton rooms.  And that would be with another casino, the second casino on the plan.  And then the next stage, sometime early ‘13, will be the last 2,000 rooms of the Sheraton complex, the Sheraton Tower building.  And that is on schedule to open as we speak; no changes have been made in that.”
• “We’re going to have approximately 450 junket tables by the completion of Sands Cotai, which means it’s an extraordinary amount of tables to have.  And so the goal is to first sit down with the top-tier junkets.  We’re trying to stay focused.  There’s a lot of junkets in Macau.  Our first goal is to resurrect those relationships and convince them we’re sincere about this.”
• [Four Seasons Co-op] “We believe that we will get an approval on a co-op basis.  In other words, a share basis and then a strata basis that we will be required to put a percentage of the rooms into a hotel pool.  If I had to guess today, I would guess at about 10% and we are asking for permission to take the top four floors of the Four Seasons and convert them to VIP space.  So, when you look at the business model, it’s really the best of all worlds in that we not only get a recurring cash stream on the VIP rooms, but we get to monetize about two-thirds of the building in terms of the assets through a co-op share purchase program.  The 10% of the rooms, which would be probably about 30 rooms, we will need those in any event to service properly the VIP rooms that we’re adding to the Four Season’s top floors.”
• [ROIC on Cotai projects] “We really target a return on invested capital on most of our development projects north of 20% ($800MM)”

SINGAPORE

• “There is no capacity issue in the VIP segment of our business in Singapore.  There’s plenty of tables and there’s plenty of room to accommodate people.”
• “Capacity is in play on the mass slot side, probably three shifts a weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  So there is capacity in the sense we get that 80% occupancy on the slot machines, which in essence is truly a capacity constraint situation.  There are days when you’re winning $2.5 million in slot machines in Singapore that capacity is certainly a concern – ETG and slot.  There is no problem in the mass table side, which is the other huge piece of our business.”

PENNSYLVANIA

• “We’ve added a 300-room hotel there, a shopping mall that will open this fall and an event center that will open next spring.”

 

Q4 Conference Call:

MACAU               

• “The opening of lot 5 is still on target for the end of quarter one next year...The property will also open with a variety of retail offerings, more than 300,000 square feet of meeting space, 11 food and beverage establishments, along with 106,000 square foot casino and VIP gaming areas.  The opening of what we are calling lot 6A... is on track for the third quarter of 2012.  Along with its casino, the opening of lot 6A will include most of the 13.7 million square foot complexes remaining dining, entertainment, retail and meeting facilities.”
• [VIP initiatives in Macau] “Together with those ongoing efforts, we have now accrued and are embarking on a $125 million capital expenditure campaign, which will help us complete the hardware part of the process.  These capital investments will be used for a variety of projects, several of which will be completed ahead of Chinese New Year in 2012.”
• “Our mix doesn’t change a lot, we’re still running, the great majority obviously is about four to one in favor of junket.  But as our goal is to not be our direct business but not soften the junket side as a result of favoring VIP.  In the past, we were premium focused.  We want very badly to encourage strong relations with the major junket people in Macao.  We are trying to emphasize if a customer wants to come direct, they can.  I think David figured out that if we want to service both ends of the spectrum, we don’t want to lose our junket perspective." 
• [Promotional environment after Galaxy Macau] “I think there is more end-up competitions in the town in general.”
• [Tables in sites 5 & 6] “I think you can estimate comfortably 200, 200 in each and that about 120, 130 in the Plaza for now.”
  

SINGAPORE

• “Demand is quickly starting to outpace supply at Marina Bay Sands, and ADR and occupancy are continuing to rise.”
• “We still have a couple of more big events coming with Louis Vuitton opening in September and two more nightclubs and about another 30 or 40 retail stores.  So, we’re not a 100% open even yet and we don’t have the subway coming as well, which comes in January or February of ‘12.”
• “So, essentially, whoever submits for one property will -- the junket of that will be able to work essentially for both properties”

LAS VEGAS

• “We’ve got a good convention calendar the rest of the year.  That allows us to manage those cash and comps a little better.  I think there is still some upside for us in that area.”
• “I think generally Vegas market in July, in total, has been pretty good.  I’m hearing from the other competitors that it’s been pretty good.  And I think our performance in July will be above what the expectation levels is for what people are saying about Las Vegas.”