Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO, Rob Goldstein, says he is confident the company’s Singapore integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands (MBS), can surpass US$1 billion in Adjusted EBITDA in 2022 following recent announcements around the reopening of international borders.
Goldstein’s comments, made during the company’s 1Q22 earnings call on Thursday morning (Asia time), come after MBS posted US$121 million in EBITDA for the quarter. Although down on the US$177 million reported in the December quarter, momentum is firmly in the property’s favor with MBS recording Adjusted EBITDA of US$17 million in January, rising to US$46 million in February and US$58 million in March.
“That momentum is continuing to go upwards in April,” Goldstein said. “I think Singapore is back and will experience the same post-COVID numbers as the US in my opinion. The question is how fast does it get there? The demand is there and will continue assuming no more surprises from the pandemic.
“We’d like to think Singapore can return to a US$1 billion [EBITDA] run rate this year, so US$58 million in March feels pretty good and that momentum is continuing.”
Asked which gaming segments were showing the clearest rebound, Goldstein added, “It is all coming back. In the month of March we saw outsized demand from free independent travelers on the pure leisure side, we saw premium mass, we saw high-end play coming from all over the [Pacific] rim.
“Singapore is in a unique position. Obviously Macau is in a difficult place right now so people will look for other opportunities. They want to travel and our MBS product has a very opportunistic, unique window here.
“It’s leisure travel, VIP, premium mass, mass casino – it’s universal. It feels like a very positive beginning and I feel like MBS is going to have a very productive 2022.”
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Singapore dropped most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions this week, including a requirement for international visitors to acquire a negative test result prior to departure.
Less likely to resume in a hurry, however, is work on the company’s MBS 2.0 expansion project with Goldstein pointing to ongoing supply and labor issues for delays to the project. Instead, the company is first pushing forward on a US$1 billion upgrade project to its existing towers.
“That [upgrade] is underway as we speak,” he said.
“It will take a while, it won’t complete until the end of 2023 but it’s going to be all encompassing. Like everyone, getting supplies and labor has been an issue but it’s underway. We’re still working with issues around IR 2.0 – the same issues around supply, labor and costs, so we intend to have IR 1.0 complete around the end of 2023 but IR 2.0 is still for interpretation.”
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