Revenue and business volume in Macau’s mass-market segment are recovering “nicely”, and have margin to grow this year, says Grant Chum Kwan Lock, Sands China Ltd’s freshly appointed chief executive and president.
“In the fourth quarter, we had 13-percent growth in premium mass and 8-percent growth sequentially in base mass,” stated Mr Chum. “Base mass was progressing nicely through the quarter. It’s just that premium mass had a great performance that exceeded that.”
Mr Chum was speaking on Wednesday on a conference call following the fourth-quarter earnings announcement by the parent firm, U.S.-based Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Sands China runs a number of resorts in Macau’s Cotai district, including the Venetian Macao, the Parisian Macao, and the Londoner Macao. It also operates casino hotel Sands Macao on the city’s peninsula
According to the executive, the number of visitors to Macau during the final quarter of 2023 “recovered to almost 90 percent of 2019 levels”.
“So, I think the base mass is continuously progressing and building up,” he said, adding that the number of non-gaming events across Macau has been “very effective” in supporting the increase in visitor arrivals.
“I think you should expect that growth pattern to continue,” he said. “The ability to get there [Macau] has been improving, but the desirability of the destination is even clearer.”
Asked about player reinvestment rates, specifically regarding competition for premium mass players, Mr Chum said the competitive landscape “is very intense at the premium-mass segment”.
“But if you look at our margin structure, I think the way we’ve driven our business is no different from before, which is to really drive and elevate the product and to drive the content and the events that we put on across a whole range of sectors to attract visitors and patrons,” added the Sands China CEO.
“We are dealing with the competitive market as any competitor does. It is intense, but we believe strongly that in the end, product wins,” he stated, adding that the company had seen “a good improvement” in its fourth-quarter mass margin sequentially.
Mr Chum also said Sands China had a “more efficient and more productive cost structure” compared to 2018 and 2019. “So, we are benefiting from that as revenues grow and you get the operating leverage on the fixed costs,” he added.
The company’s management said they expected the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday in February to be “strong”. The holiday period falls on February 10 this year, and runs until February 17.
“The ramp-up in demand during those peak [holiday] periods [in December] was tremendous,” noted Mr Chum. “Hopefully, that will be replicated into this Chinese New Year. So, there is a lot of optimism and expectations that this will be a strong one.”
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, said last week that the local authorities expect a daily average of 120,000 visitors during the Chinese New Year break. That would be at least 50 percent more than the up to 80,000 seen on weekdays so far in January, she added.
