Sands’ Profit Soars in Fourth Quarter
In its first earnings report since going public in August, Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Tuesday that profit in the fourth quarter soared, spurred by the opening of a casino in the Chinese territory of Macao.
Net income at Las Vegas Sands, owner of the Venetian casino resort in Las Vegas, rose to $69.3 million, or 21 cents a share, from $7.7 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $347.6 million, the Las Vegas-based company said.
The company’s $265-million Sands Macao, Asia’s first Las Vegas-style casino, opened in May and generated $171.5 million in revenue in the quarter. Sales at the Venetian rose 7.5% on higher room rates.
Las Vegas Sands went public in December, raising $690 million in the biggest initial public offering by a U.S. casino company.
“Overall the business volumes seem healthy,” said Eric Hausler, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group in New York. “People were a little concerned about Macao. Expectations were high; the stock was running up.”
Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell $2.45 to $47.35 on the New York Stock Exchange. They’ve risen 63% since trading began Dec. 15.
Excluding costs related to opening the Macao casino, Las Vegas Sands said it earned 19 cents a share during the quarter. On that basis, the company exceeded the 16-cent average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call.
For the year, the company’s net income rose to $495.2 million, or $1.52 a share, from $66.6 million, or 20 cents, in 2003. Revenue climbed to $1.2 billion from $691.8 million.
In Las Vegas, which had 35.5 million visitors last year, Las Vegas Sands is developing the $1.6-billion Palazzo casino resort, a 50-floor hotel with 3,025 rooms and a 105,000-square-foot gaming facility. The Venetian has 4,027 suites, 2,000 slot machines, 139 table games and 1.8 million square feet of meeting and convention space.
Earnings also rose at casino companies Caesars Entertainment Inc., Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and MGM Mirage on gains in Las Vegas tourism and gambling. Caesars, the largest U.S. casino company, swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $20 million from a year-earlier loss as more gamblers visited its resorts including Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
