Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd is to pay on January 17 what it terms a “discretionary allowance” equal to a month of respective salary, to “more than” 25,000 eligible “full-time team members” excluding senior management, the firm said in a Wednesday statement.
It said the payment was in “appreciation of their dedication and contributions in 2021”.
The company, operator of Macau venues including the Venetian Macao resort on Cotai (pictured), stated that 99 percent of Sands China’s workforce were benefitting either from the discretionary allowance “or other incentive schemes”.
Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, president of Sands China, was cited in a press release as saying, and referring to the business disruption cased by the Covid-19 pandemic: “This year was another challenging one, not just for Macau, but for the whole world.”
He added, referring to the revamp and rebranding of one of the group’s Cotai resorts, and to the death of the founder of the parent firm, Las Vegas Sands Corp: “Despite its challenges, our team members came together to successfully launch The Londoner Macao against the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic – fulfilling the vision of our founder, Mr. Sheldon G. Adelson.”
Sands China recorded a net loss of US$423 million for the three months to September 30, as heightened pandemic-related restrictions had a negative impact on the group’s financial results for the quarter. That compared with a loss of US$166 million in the second quarter of 2021, but was still an improvement on the US$562-million loss a year earlier. The company however was able to generate positive earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the third quarter 2021.
