Macau complications make for tough H1 for Las Vegas Sands

�challenging” Macau market contributed to a 12% decrease in Las Vegas Sands’ casino revenues to $4.1bn for the six months ended 30 June.

Minor contractions in net revenues were reported for The Venetian Macao, 7% to $1.42bn, and Sands Cotai Central, 18% to $1.003bn, showcasing the difficulties in a market where gross revenue for Macau casinos has dropped year-on-year for the past 25 months in succession.

However, the decline rate has slowed this year, with June’s year-to-date total being 107.79bn patacas ($13.49bn), as opposed to a 37% downturn at this point last year, to 121.65bn patacas.

Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said: “The operating environment in Macao remained challenging during the quarter; but we do see signs of stabilisation, particularly in the mass market. Our mass gaming revenues in the month of June 2016 increased versus the same month in 2015, the first year-on-year monthly mass gaming growth we have experienced in nearly two years.”

Net income for the period fell 33% to $803.4m and earnings per share went down $0.41 to $0.82 on both a basic and diluted basis.