Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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I’d vote for that. I’m sure our competitors would. But we didn’t make it happen. We need perhaps — it’s very simple. The math on the baccarat games don’t change. The customer best can change, ties and payers can change flatback change. So the point is, we don’t know the answer ourselves. A lot of people scratched our heads until we have a certain answer we consider confidence. I want to hope along with you that we turn up to 24 again because it’d be a wonderful thing for us with our volumes, it will be incredibly impactful. We’d be at $700 million probably this quarter of EBITDA. So an excellent question. I don’t have an excellent answer. We’re working to prove it. Grant, any idea you add to that – that answer.

Grant Chum: No, you’re exactly right. We don’t have a clear answer on that. There’s — in theory, actually, but just a point to make is, in theory, the premium mass being higher, higher mix in the drop actually should be positive for the whole facility. And it could also obviously add more volatility to the metric. But I think Rob is absolutely right that we don’t have a clear answer and in truth, I mean this is only like eight, nine months into a recovery where the segments and the customers, I mean, all that is still evolving. So I think it’s also premature to make specific pronouncements on what should be the non-rolling total percentage range. So right now, the numbers are what they are. But as you rightly referenced, as Rob also said 0.5 point of different, not even just 1 point, makes a tremendous difference to the numbers, the EBITDA, the margin, et cetera.

So we’re closely watching this, but there’s no clear answer we can give on that in terms of why the whole percentage is where it is versus before.

Robert Goldstein: Really in the new world in Macao, and I think people really don’t understand. I think it’s fast people understand how quickly this thing is reopened. I mean I know you know it, but the problem is Vegas open, regionals open, simple and quite a while ago, Macao was near the game. It’s going to open for eight months, 8.5 months. So things are evolving and turning, it’s happening quickly. Again, I think it’s an instructive look at the trajectory of what happened in Singapore go back to eight months after it open, and you watch us happen double that time it’s incredibly, I think, interesting to see the comparisons. I think this whole percentage thing is evolving. And we don’t know we’ll be wonderful to find out, we’re back in ’24 in Q2 would be wonderful. But without certainty, we will only give you an answer which we don’t have clarity on ourselves, and we do we’re happy to share with the market.

Daniel Politzer: Got it. I appreciate all the detail and the perspective. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. And the last question today is coming from David Katz from Jefferies. David, your line is live.

David Katz: Hi. Good day, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to go back on one detail. I’m not sure if you discussed this, but I’m just looking at the historical margin levels in Singapore, which were north of 50. Could you just talk about the puts and takes of getting back to that level again or if there’s some specific headwinds? And then I have one quick follow-up.

Patrick Dumont: No problem. I think one thing to highlight is that there was an increase in our tax rate by 3 percentage points and then there was a 1% GST. So what you see there is the impact of that along with inflation of the market. We’ve been able to manage expenses, manage business mix, manage pricing and push the business to be better. But our long term there is going to be with strong margins, with revenue growth just based on our investment and what we’re seeing in the market. So we sort of manage the productivity yield and return on invested capital. Obviously, we look at margins and do our best. But we like where this business is going, and we think the future is very strong.

David Katz: Understood. And as my follow-up, with the very, very good quarter that you had, and it’s not just for your stuff, but many in our coverage, the market seems to expect some macro pressure in the future. And it’s almost an obligatory question for all of our management teams. Are you seeing anything or providing anything that would validate any macro pressure at this point.

Patrick Dumont: So I’ll tell you what’s interesting. You heard up Rob earlier reference our retail productivity. We are in very fortunate markets. So Singapore is an unbelievable place to do business. It’s just a great place to visit as a tourist. There’s a lot of exciting things to do there. It’s a great business environment to trade and I think Singapore has benefited from its years of investment in the structure and people are going there and people are going there and consuming. And so we don’t have a huge physical plant there. We’ve got 2,500 hotel rooms are going down as we add more suites. And I think in, Macao, we’re less than 1% penetration in the market. And so when you look at business and leisure tourism opportunities, I don’t know that we’re impacted like a broad-based consumer staple.

I think we’re for a narrower segment, we don’t appeal to everyone, but I think we’re a great tourism assets in both of our markets. And we’ve continued to see growth through different cycles, because of who we appeal to and the volumes that we need to be successful.

David Katz: Got it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Operator: Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today’s conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.

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