Net income attributable to casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp in the first quarter was down 28.7 percent year-on-year, but rose 8.6 sequentially, according to information in a Wednesday filing in the United States.
Such net income in the three months to March 31 this year was US$352 million, versus US$494 million in the first quarter of 2024, and US$324 million in the fourth quarter last year.
The latest result was on revenues that went down 3.3 percent year-on-year, to US$2.86 billion. Quarter-on-quarter, revenues for the first three months this year declined by 1.2 percent.
The group runs casinos in Macau via its Sands China Ltd unit, and the Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore, via its Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd unit.
Group-wide casino revenues were down 4.5 percent year-on-year, to just under US$2.13 billion.
The group’s first-quarter non-gaming revenues – including for hotel services, food and drink, mall operations and “convention retail and other” – were US$735 million, which was a 0.5-percent gain on a year earlier.
Adjusted property earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) across group operations were US$1.14 billion, down 5.6 percent year-on-year.
The group said its effective first-quarter income tax rate was 13.4 percent, compared to 2.8 percent in the prior-year quarter.
The first-quarter 2025 income tax rate was “primarily driven by a 17 percent statutory rate on our Singapore operations,” stated the parent group.
Net revenues from Macau operations – where the company runs a number of casino properties – were just under US$1.71 billion in the first quarter, down 5.6 percent year-on-year.
Net income for Sands China was US$202 million in the opening quarter of 2025, down 32.0 percent from a year earlier.
The Macau operation’s adjusted property EBITDA were down 12.3 percent year-on-year, to US$535 million.
“Low hold on rolling play in Macau negatively impacted adjusted property EBITDA by US$10 million,” stated the group in a press release.
First-quarter Macau gaming revenues were just under US$1.61 billion, down 6.0 percent on first-quarter 2024’s just over 1.71 billion, said JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd in a Thursday note.
“Sands’ first-quarter results were undeniably weak across the board, with lingering market share loss and poor margins: actually, the lowest in approximately two years,” wrote the brokerage’s analysts DS Kim and Selina Li.
They added regarding Macau operations and referring second to the end of pandemic-related travel restrictions in January 2023: “Market share edged down by 50 basis points to 22.4 percent, its lowest level since the border reopened two years ago.”
“This was particularly disappointing as Sands opened Londoner Grand, also known as Phase 2,” a revamped hotel at The Londoner Macao property “during the quarter and it had more/better rooms in the first quarter versus the fourth quarter,” stated JP Morgan.
The JP Morgan team added: “By property, Londoner [Macao] itself did grow mass/slot GGR by 8 percent quarter-on-quarter, but at the expense of other properties within Sands’ portfolio (e.g., minus 7 percent quarter-on-quarter at Venetian [Macao], minus 20 percent at Four Seasons); this suggests bigger-than-expected cannibalisation from the Londoner Grand opening, which is not unprecedented for new property openings during an industry downturn.”
Analysts Anne Ling and Jingjue Pei at Jefferies Hong Kong Ltd, stated in their Thursday note: “Londoner [Macao’s] 2,405 rooms are now fully open and ready for the upcoming May Labour holiday. Management expects it to take the next 12 months to ramp up.”
Marina Bay Sands, LVS share repurchases
In Singapore, net revenues rose 0.4 percent year-on-year, to just over US$1.16 billion. First-quarter Singapore adjusted property EBITDA were up 1.3 percent from a year earlier, at US$605 million.
Casino revenues were down 0.2 percent year-on-year, to US$857 million.
Robert Goldstein, president and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, said on a conference call with analysts following the group’s results: “We delivered a record quarter of US$605 million of adjusted property EBITDA, an extraordinary achievement by any standard. I assume this is a record EBITDA quarter for any gaming property in the world.”
Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, said on Wednesday’s call that the group has increased the expected hold-adjusted win percentage on rolling play at Marina Bay Sands to 3.7 percent, from 3.3 percent.
The firm’s management cited greater utilisation of side bets and more accurate data from the use of ‘smart’ gaming tables at the complex.
“Given the mix of games and demonstrated player preferences over the last two years, we have updated our expectation for hold on rolling play at Marina Bay Sands to 3.7 percent,” stated Mr Dumont.
He added: “There will naturally be fluctuations in any specific quarter given by game mix and player preference.”
The group repurchased US$450 million of Las Vegas Sands shares during the quarter.
The group’s unrestricted cash balances as of March 31 were US$3.04 billion. Las Vegas Sands noted it has access to US$4.44 billion for borrowing under its U.S., Sands China and Singapore revolving credit facilities, net of outstanding letters of credit. As of March 31, the group’s total debt outstanding, excluding finance leases, was US$13.71 billion.
Capital expenditures during the first quarter totalled US$379 million, including construction, development and maintenance activities of US$197 million in Macau, and US$175 million at Marina Bay Sands.
