Las Vegas Sands 2Q profit falls 35 percent

[July 26, 2012]  LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Wednesday that second-quarter profit tumbled by 35 percent as the casino operator's table winnings fell at home and in Asia.

Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said the results didn't meet his expectations. They didn't meet Wall Street's, either.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell 88 cents, or 2.3 percent, to end regular trading at $37.51. After more than an hour of extended trading after the results came out, the shares had lost another $2.47, or 6.6 percent, to $35.04.

The company said its net income fell to $240.6 million, or 29 cents per share, from $367.6 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company said it would have earned 44 cents per share.

Analysts were looking for 60 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $2.58 billion, but that, too, didn't impress analysts, who had expected $2.77 billion.

Adelson, who is also a major Republican political donor, said earnings were hurt by lower hold on table games, more accounts receivable in Singapore and higher legal expenses. He found solace in the higher revenue and said the company expected strong growth from its new Sands Cotai Central resort in China's Macau region.

The Sands Cotai is the company's fourth hotel casino in Macau, the world's biggest gambling destination that has also lured other Las Vegas operators, including MGM Resorts International and casino magnate Steve Wynn's Wynn Resorts.

Sands said that it boosted its share of the Macau market to 17.7 percent from 16 percent, and revenue there rose 22 percent from a year ago, to about $1.45 billion. Revenue fell at the company's properties in Singapore and Las Vegas.

Sands operates The Venetian and The Palazzo in Las Vegas. Customers played more at slots and baccarat, less at other table games, which it said reflected overall conditions in the U.S. gambling mecca.

The average daily house "win" per gambling table is much higher in Asia -- from $9,500 at the Sands Macau to $22,227 at the nearby Four Seasons and Plaza casino -- than in Las Vegas, where it's $3,402, or Bethlehem, Pa., $2,813. The U.S. casinos usually have more slot machines, although the company's daily win per machine is generally higher in Asia.

[Associated Press]

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