The board of Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd recommended on Friday a final dividend for 2018 of HKD1.00 (US$0.127) per share.
The news came only hours after it emerged via a Las Vegas, Nevada court, that the firm’s parent, United States-based Las Vegas Sands Corp, had settled a 15-year legal dispute over what help it had received in getting Macau gaming rights. The terms of the settlement with Chinese businessman Richard Suen and his firm Round Square Co Ltd, have not been made public.
The 2018 final dividend for Sands China still has to be ratified by shareholders at a board meeting on May 24. If agreed, it will be payable to those whose names appear on the stockholders’ register as of June 3.
In January it had been announced that Sands China’s 2018 net income had increased 19 percent to US$1.90 billion. Its parent Las Vegas Sands reported a fourth-quarter loss of US$170 million.
Last week a senior executive of Sands China confirmed to GGRAsia that work had started in order to revamp the firm’s Sands Cotai Central casino complex in the Cotai district, to “The Londoner Macao”.
In January the parent Las Vegas Sands announced a quarterly dividend of US$0.75 per common share for the fourth quarter. The U.S. group said it would increase the annual group dividend for the 2019 calendar year to US$3.08, or US$0.77 per common share per quarter.
