Las Vegas Sands Q1 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), Wednesday reported an increase in profit for the first quarter, gambling business in Macao, China, the world's biggest gambling market, revives. Earnings for the quarter trumped Wall Street expectations, as did revenues.

First-quarter profit rose to $480 million or $0.60 per share from $320 million or $0.40 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings decreased to $527 million or $0.66 per share from $375 million or $0.47 per share a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.61 per share.

Revenues for the quarter rose 14.3 percent to $3.11 billion from $2.72 billion in the prior year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $3.10 billion for the quarter.

CEO Sheldon Adelson said, "We are pleased to have continued to execute our strategic objectives during the quarter and to have delivered a strong operating performance in each of our markets. The benefits of our convention-based Integrated Resort business model were clearly evident in our financial results, with adjusted property EBITDA increasing 24.9% compared to the first quarter of 2016, reaching $1.15 billion."

Revenues for Sands China increased 15.3 percent to $1.88 billion from $1.63 billion a year ago. Profit rose to 11.9 percent to $349 million.

Commenting on the Macao market, Adelson said that the market overall continues to recover and has exhibited growth in each of the last three quarters.

Macau is the only part of China where gambling is legal. Few years ago, casinos and gambling were booming there, however, the gambling environment later changed and gambling revenues dropped drastically hurt largely by an anti-corruption drive in China, that forced high rollers to cut back on gambling. However, lately gambling market in Macau has started to revive, with revenue for March beating estimates.

LVS closed Wednesday's trading at $59.26, up $0.79 or 1.35%, on the NYSE. The stock, however, slipped $0.76 or 1.28% in the after-hours trade.