Sands sees 15.6% Q1 revenue drop amid sale of Las Vegas operations
Casino revenue made up most of the $1.20bn total, bringing in $865m, with mall earnings coming second with a total of $156m.
In terms of individual markets, Macau took the top spots with its Venetian, Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Macao, and Londoner properties taking in $340m, $170m and $137m respectively. Total Macao operation revenue came to $777m, down 4.5% from the first 2020 quarter.
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore was its top property overall, though, bringing in $326m.
However, operating expenses came to $1.292bn, meaning that Sands made a $96m operating loss. This compared to a profit of $6m for Q1 last year.
After interest and taxes, net loss from ongoing operations this quarter was $280m, a 204.0% increase from $92m in the first 2020 quarter.
However, these numbers exclude the Las Vegas properties, as Sands sold the operations to VICI Properties (including funds by Apollo Global Management) for $6.25bn last month.
The operator’s Las Vegas properties, including the Venetian resort, brought in £139m.
After including these discontinued operations, Sands made a $342m loss, almost seven times its Q1 2020 loss.
Sands hopes that the deal to sell the properties will close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
On an earnings call regarding the Q1 results, Sands CEO Robert Goldstein said he saw the sale as an opportunity for return.
“I think we continue to believe there’ll be something happening in Macao at some point in the future, which will enable us to reinvest in Macao on a non-gaming basis. We’re hopeful that’ll happen sooner than later. We continue to look at other large-scale Asian opportunities.”
In January, Goldstein revealed that Sands was exploring opportunities to expand into online gambling.
Goldstein took on the CEO role following the death of Sands founder Sheldon Adelson at 87.