In preparation for LVS's 4Q earnings release Wednesday, we’ve put together the recent pertinent forward looking company commentary.
POST-EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS
1/28/13: SANDS CHINA GETS APPROVAL FOR 200 NEW TABLES: CEO
1/28/13: SANDS CHINA ANNOUNCES INTERIM DIVIDEND OF HK$0.67 CENTS PAYABLE ~FEB 28
1/28/13: SHERATON MACAO HOTEL AT SANDS COTAI CENTRAL ADDS 2,067 NEW ROOMS
11/26/12: LAS VEGAS SANDS BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVES $2.75 PER SHARE SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYABLE DEC 18
YOUTUBE FROM 3Q CONFERENCE CALL
MACAU
- "Holiday Inn is running at extremely high rates. The Conrad has more demand than it has supplies and the Sheraton just opened recently last month and we're doing splendidly at the Sheraton."
- Parisian Macao: "As soon as government approval comes, we will put piles in the ground and begin the construction period which will last a little bit more than 30 months, and hope to be opened in that property by the end of 2015."
- [Macau malls] "We've got about $9 billion to $10 billion today. And I'm not going to sell Macao until we finish the bridge which is next month, in December, and we let in the cross traffic....If it does impact it well, I think we could probably reach another billion or maybe more....In terms of monetizing it, we should wait until we get the approval for the Tropical Mall and we put the new retail in Lot 3. So we're still in the midst of that in any event, this is a good turn. There's a good cap rate."
- "We also have 26 more stores opening in the Four Seasons, 43 more stores opening and five in Cotai Central, and the potential of an 800,000 square foot, 300 store mall next to the Sheraton on the Tropical Garden space. So there's a lot more retail to mature for us to essentially maximize that retail facility."
- "Sands Cotai numbers are good, but they can be better. Again, the margins are hurting a bit due to a lack of premium mass."
SINGAPORE
- "We're implementing new marketing programs to both the premium mass market and VIP markets, beefing up our sales force and investing in aircraft. The customers we are targeting with these efforts will come from the areas surrounding Singapore: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the wider Southeast Asian region as well as from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea, and Vietnam."
- "We're putting a team on the ground, incentives on the ground to try to drive more of that premium mass customer into Singapore, more tourist-driven and we think it's going to be very successful. We have started that a few months ago. We're looking to put a lot of boots on the ground and our belief is that's the growth in Singapore in the near future."
- [VIP RC trends] "I think it's stayed pretty flat....Singapore looks like a $45 to $50 billion annualized gold market at this time... We don't fear the credit side. We just would like to see more demand in the right kinds of customers. So our bigger challenge, very candidly, is going to be to make sure that premium mass growth returns again. That's the margin 65% plus we'd like to get back to and that's the segment we're really focusing on as far as we think there's short-term appreciation hope."
- "Slot revenue has decreased by 8% this quarter... because of a decrease in local play. This concerns us and we are putting strategies in place in terms of how we can replace that business with additional business that we're after. The hotel room and MICE businesses have performed exceptionally and are operating at near capacity. There is rarely an empty room in the Marina Bay Sands these days. Retail has also grown meaningfully and we are in the process of developing additional dining and entertainment offerings in our mall."
DEVELOPMENT OUTLOOK & UPDATES
- "In Japan, we are awaiting legislation, which is supposed to be submitted in April to the Diet. After that, there will be an approval process for a year or maybe two as it goes through the Japanese procedures. We're looking at sites in both Osaka and Tokyo and we continue that investigation and have people hired on the ground working on our behalf."
- "In Korea, we have met with government officials at the federal government level, as well as the city levels in Seoul and Busan, Korea where we're interested in attractive sites for our business. I want to emphasize in Korea that we have non-negotiated tax rates, that it's also a must that we have some kind of local play available to us in order to pursue our Korean activities and we expect to have a situation where we have presented a Singapore type of restriction on local play, so that we can in fact get into the Korean market."
- "Vietnam, we have looked at numerous sites in Vietnam. We continue to work with the government there. Our eyes are on Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Progress is being made. However, there's a longer way to go there at the present time than in the other areas."
- "We've also been on the ground in Taiwan. We are not interested in islands offshore. We're interested in the mainland in Taiwan. We haven't made much progress there, but there is some interest going forward."
- "In Europe, our operation in Madrid for the Euro Vegas Strip continues. We continue to meet with the government. There continues to be activity in the area of grants and incentives, in the areas of the tender for land acquisition as well as the financing. We are expected by the government to present our plans in some detail in early January, and at that time we will also have more information on what the legislation is that will be passed in our favor."
- "In North America, we are working with the Ontario Gaming Commission as far as a potential downtown site in Toronto. We have decided on the location. There are lots of things in the way at this point, including the approval of the Toronto City Council."
- "In South America, we have had people on the ground in Brazil, both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, looking at opportunities there, and we have started initial investigations in Argentina."
- "There's been some press about Willets Point. We've looked at it, continue to look at it."
OTHER
- "We have every intention of increasing the dividend in the years ahead as our business and cash flows continue to grow."
- [Las Vegas] "We had some group cancellations since last quarter but the volume of group bookings for 2013 looks quite a bit stronger."
