LVS chairman Dumont calls 3Q ‘aberrational’ amid soft high-end play, upbeat on outlook

Las Vegas Sands Corp, parent of Macau casino concessionaire Sands China Ltd and owner of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands complex, says its third-quarter performance in both markets was “aberrational”, affected by “softness” in high-end play. That is according to Patrick Dumont (pictured in a file photo), chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, during a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the firm’s third-quarter earnings. “A quarter like this… I believe this was aberrational. We had people who didn’t show up, but the good news is, they’re out there,” he said. “We made a lot of strides in the things that we’re trying to improve and create a better experience for our customers, but when the customers don’t show up, it’s a little problematic.” Mr Dumont cited “uncertainty” at the macro level both in Asia and globally, as well as the FIFA World Cup tournament that ended in mid-July, as potential reasons for the softness in high-end play during the third quarter. The group’s management team was, however, careful not to link the softness in the high-end segment to China’s crackdown on offshore tax collections. In July, the Chinese government introduced a 20-percent tax on offshore trust income, requiring unpaid taxes to be declared by this Thursday (October 22). Despite the lacklustre third-quarter performance, Mr Dumont highlighted that the company remained “pretty confident” that future performance would not be negativelly impacted by similar softness. “This quarter, in our view, does not represent the true earnings power of our properties in both Marina Bay Sands and Macau,” Mr Dumont stated. Discussing the Macau market, the boss of Las Vegas Sands noted that the drag on earnings was also affected by higher expenses related to investments in “additional table operating hours, increased sales, marketing and customer service personnel, and enhanced levels of customer service”. Management highlighted during the conference call that it did not expect a further “significant increase in headcount from this point on”. Mr Dumont added that Sands China’s market share of Macau mass gaming revenue reached 26.1 percent for the quarter, describing it as the firm’s “strongest performance” since the fourth quarter of 2023. Player reinvestment “competitive” but stable Grant Chum Kwan Lock, chief executive and president of Sands China, stated on the call that the “most important point for the quarter” was that the Macau unit had been able to “gain revenue share across all segments” while controlling its reinvestment in players. “We remained very consistent in the reinvestment strategy,” he said. “That’s been a focus since the first quarter of the year. And we are achieving, sequentially, a lower level of reinvestment and capturing higher market share.” Discussing overall player reinvestment rates across Macau operators, Mr Chum admitted that “the market remains very competitive… but we haven’t seen significant escalation”. “There were also plenty of indicators, certainly in the Sands China portfolio, … that the underlying demand is still very solid and very deep,” he added. “We had double-digit growth in patron count. We had high single-digit growth in property visits.” Mr Chum also noted that the recent NBA China Games 2026 in Macau, held earlier this month at The Venetian Macao, had been “a tremendous success”. “It was, across a number of categories, an even more successful Games week than the highly successful one in 2025,” he added, without providing further details. Mr Chum also discussed Sands China’s planned development capital expenditure for 2027, mentioning the ongoing renovation of The Venetian Macao suites, which started in March this year, the Conrad Macao renovation and rebranding into a Londoner-themed hotel at the Londoner Macao, as well as the creation of a botanical garden as part of the firm’s concession pledges to the Macau government. Regarding the launch of renovated rooms at The Venetian Macao, Mr Chum said management had “received very strong feedback from the customers who have experienced the new suites” – circa 600 units have already been released to the market, according to him. He stated that, as part of the ongoing renovation, “about 400 rooms” were offline during the third quarter. “It will increase slightly to about 500 next quarter,” Mr Chum added. During the conference call, Sands China management also reconfirmed that it expects to complete the full renovation of The Venetian Macao by early 2028. It reaffirmed a goal of reaching US$700 million in quarterly EBITDA and beyond in Macau over time. Singapore and share repurchases With softness in the high-end market also affecting Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, Las Vegas Sands chairman Mr Dumont stated the firm felt “pretty good” about how it was positioned heading into the fourth quarter. He noted that volatility had impacted results at the property from July to September, but “the great thing is that the volumes are there, the customers are there”. The executive highlighted the importance of the ongoing expansion project in Singapore – dubbed “MBS 2.0” – to attract high-end customers. Mr Dumont emphasised the arena being developed at the complex, positioning it as “the most important live entertainment venue in the region”, with strong connectivity to the rest of the Marina Bay Sands precinct. Mr Dumont also discussed the ongoing stock repurchase activity of Las Vegas Sands and its subsidiary Sands China. As of September 30, 2026, the parent’s ownership percentage of Sands China had reached nearly 75.6 percent, he said. “We see meaningful value in both Las Vegas Sands and Sands China equity, and we’re going to continue to act on this belief,” he said, noting that the firm would proceed prudently in order to maintain its investment-grade rating. The executive said there were currently no plans to pursue mergers or acquisitions, and affirmed that there were no plans to take the casino group private.