In preparation for LVS's FQ2 2012 earnings release tonight, we’ve put together the recent pertinent forward looking company commentary.
JP MORGAN GAMING, LODGING, RESTAURANT & LEISURE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE (March 19)
MACAU
- "Our Four Seasons operations are evidence of our successes recently in the Junket area. We believe this is just the beginning of our ability to build the Junket segment throughout all LVS properties, be it Cotai or in the peninsula."
- "But it's the mass tables that I believe present the most compelling case for the LVS investment in Macau. We will have over 1,000 mass tables before the year is out. Margins in this segment can exceed 40%, which is about roughly 3.5, four times the Junket segment and only we have the key components to the segment's success. One is capacity, which is a place to gamble, obviously; sleeping rooms, which we think are pivotal; and affordable food and retail. And the same attributes which drive mass tables also drive slot revenue."
- "When we finish with Cotai Central, we'll have over 5,000, almost 6,000, slot/ETG positions. And contrary to opinion of 10 years ago, Asians do like slot machines and ETGs. We think someday this will be a very important market. Again, huge, huge margins and with our rooms and our ability to grow this market, we feel very good about it."
- "We are the biggest driver of hotel rooms and we'll represent 40% of the market by the time 2013 comes to a close."
- "We are looking at second-tier junkets, especially out of the North. We are looking to those upper provinces that have been underrepresented, the North and the Far East, and out of Shanghai because we think that's where the growth opportunities present themselves.
- "We're 19% of the VIP market and 23% of mass gaming tables."
- "There is a commission war happening in the peninsula in some of the second tier properties. I don't think it happens in the major properties. I think commission rates are pretty much, at this point, fixed. We upped ours a notch to get our competitive situation going. We do bonus you in the back end, but we maintain a very healthy margin. I don't think it's a real issue at this point. Again, one of the problems is we'd like to have more tables, especially, obviously, Wynn, MGM, et cetera. I don't see them increasing commissions, nor would we. And so I don't think commissions are a material problem for the foreseeable future."
- "I don't see it slowing, I think you're going to see junkets continue to grow."
SINGAPORE
- "On the casino side, I would say Sunday through Thursday, capacity is not a problem. The problem comes in on weekends, high demand Saturdays and Saturday nights, Sundays, where you do have 85% usage on the slot machines and table games get maxed out...There's a couple of things you can do to address that. One, obviously you can change limits on the table side, which we do. We're very aggressive in the table limits. Two is we constantly move machines around to do a better job of providing the right machines because even 85% occupancy, in essence, you're sold out because maybe the remaining 15% aren't desirable to the customer."
- "We have, at this point, no opportunity to add more rooms."
- "I think more and more mainlanders will find their way to Singapore in the years to come. But again, I think the driver you must keep your eye on is the mass market has been the driver for the most part, the high end is certainly a wonderful place to be as well, but the two together have driven us so far to numbers we never anticipated two years ago. You also should be aware that the hotel runs 90% plus occupancy. The rates exceed US$300 a day. I believe that will continue to grow and grow."
OTHER
- "Our average cost of debt is, at the end of 2011 was about 3%. With the recently announced refinancing of our Marina Bay Sands credit facility, that number will go down below the 3% level."
YOUTUBE FROM Q4 CONFERENCE CALL
MACAU
- "Not that we run our business for market share, but our re-affiliation with Macau's most important gaming promoters can help drive our market share above 25% or even higher in the future. I remember discussing this on a previous telephone call, that I expect that when our new relationships with new junket reps would bring us back to the mid- 20%s."
- "The junkets we're seeing no issues on the collections side....Same thing on our direct business. We have no issues that we're concerned about whatsoever."
- "I predict that we're going to outperform the market on the slot ETG."
- [SCC] "I think I would look for VIP to start faster than mass, but then mass will catch up over time."
SINGAPORE
- [Mass win per day] "We're moving towards $5 million in my opinion. When that happens, I don't know, but I think it's achievable at the $5 million per day."
- "Saturation point in yielding more on the [mass] floor? No."
- "The foreigner percentage has increased to about 80%, which is very good because the foreigners come in with more money than the local Singaporeans."
- "Our margins in rooms run about 83%, our margins in food and beverage close to 30%. The volumes continue to increase and our banquet margins are terrific. We have some pricing opportunities left there, of course. And we are managing our rooms in a way to maximize our room rates all the time....you've got an 83% margin in retail as well. So all these nongaming areas represent significant margin, and they will continue to operate at that level."
OTHER
- "The anticipation is that the Sands China Board will approve in June the same dividend as was given out in the first
quarter. Legally, the shareholders have to approve at the June meeting. The anticipation is that it will be an
annual dividend given in two slots – one in February, and one in, I think, July." - "By the way, if and when we do lot 3 that will be an additional, an additional tables. It's not going to be moving
around the tables that we have."
