CR83-p62&63-Business 5&6:SJC-Casino Review 23/8/09 02:47 Page 2
internationalcasinoreview
LV Sands ‘seeking $400m boost’
According to the South China Morning Post, Sheldon
Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands is planning to raise
around $400m (E281m) in a bond sale to help
restart its Cotai Strip development. The newspaper
claims that the sale of convertible bonds is linked to
a plan for an IPO of Sands’ Macau operations in
Hong Kong early next year, which would allow the
bonds to be swapped for the IPO shares.
Less VIP play pushes Melco
Crown deep into the red
The second quarter was not a good one
hold of 16.4 per cent - within marily focused on develop-
for the Chinese/Australian joint venture
but at the low end of the ment to a company primarily
expected range. focused on operations hap-
Melco Crown, despite the opening of
Including a $23.8m pened with the seamless
its new flagship venue City of Dreams. It
(E16.7m) contribution from opening of our flagship prop-
Mocha Clubs (up 6.7 per cent), erty City of Dreams, on time
seems to be losing important players as
small slots-based operations, and on budget on 1 June 2009.
well as its place in the market.
the total revenue for Melco “We are still in the early
Crown in the second quarter stages of ramping up our busi-
was $215.8m (E151.7m). ness and believe that we have
playeddown consequence, net revenue Factored into the quarter’s additional room for growth as
MELCO CROWN from the property fell almost accounts was the final chunk we execute on our various
60 per cent, totalling $159.2m of pre-opening expenses for marketing and yield manage-
The halving of VIP activity at (E111.9m). City of Dreams, totalling ment initiatives. The Grand
Melco Crown’s Altira Macau City of Dreams, which $61.3m (E43.1m). The Hyatt Macau is on track to open
property in the second quarter opened only at the start of company also took a $48m by the end of the current
helped bring the company to June, and which managed to (E33.7m) charge for deprecia- quarter, which should be a sig- jumped from nine per cent in Melco Crown’s former
a US$144m (E101.3m) loss for attract well over a million visi- tion and amortisation. nificant driver of gaming June to 18 per cent in July.” flagship saw VIP volumes
the period, widening a $5.7m tors in its first month. In that Despite the significant drop revenue and market share.” Melco Crown is looking now halve in the second quarter
(E4m) deficit from Q2/2008. one month, it generated net in turnover at Altira Macau and On the first months of oper- to the mass market at City of
The rolling chip volume at revenues of $26.8m (E18.8m). what some analysts believe to ation at CoD, he added: “The Dreams for growth for the rest
the company’s original prop- Rolling chip volume reached be a slightly disappointing sequential improvement in of the year. It will soon,
erty in the territory - renamed $1.94bn (E1.36bn). The hold opening at City of Dreams, mass table drop and rolling however, have to answer ques-
earlier this year - was $9.68bn percentage was very low, Lawrence Ho, co-chairman chip volume at City of Dreams tions about its VIP operations,
(E6.81bn), compared to however, achieving only 0.79 and CEO of Melco Crown, was between the first and second given that its tie-up with junket
$18.51bn (E13.02bn) a year per cent - well below the 2.85 upbeat. He said: “The report- months of operations was 33 operator AMA, initially so suc-
earlier. In addition, the hold per cent target range. The drop ing quarter marks a major step per cent and 36 per cent cessful, seems to be bringing in
percentage was 26 basis points at the mass market table games change for our company. Our respectively. Media sources fewer players than previously
lower at 2.45 per cent. As a was $100m (E70.3m) with a transition from a company pri- indicate that our market share and a decline in market share.
September 2009 • businessnews 63
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