Las Vegas Sands Corp is doubling down on its Macau investment strategy, having further increased its ownership stake in Sands China Ltd during the September 2026 quarter at the same time as it continues its aggressive push to boost market share.
Following a quarter in which LVS also repurchased US$950 million in its own common stock – meaning it has now repurchased 19% of LVS stock since 2023 for a combined US$6.98 billion – the company revealed that it had also purchased 62 million shares in Sands China in Q3 for a HK$793 million (US$101 million), increasing its ownership percentage to 75.56%.
LVS first announced in early September that its interest had moved above 75% – a milestone that required the company to transition from the Initial Prescribed Threshold to the Alternative Threshold in order to comply with Hong Kong listing rules and allow it to continue purchasing shares.
Asked about these investments during the group’s Q3 earnings call on Thursday morning (Asia time), LVS Chairman and CEO Patrick Dumont said, “We’ve been focused on trading the share count over time, and it’s because we see meaningful value in LVS and SCL that we’re acting so strongly. We see really long-term value creation in our ability to compound earnings and free cash flow growth per share just by reducing the share count, particularly at current prices.
“Our free cash flow and excess cash balance provides flexibility for us to opportunistically increase the amount of share repurchase based on market conditions. And that’s what we did this quarter.”
Dumont also reiterated Sands China’s commitment to an aggressive reinvestment strategy in Macau, having previously admitted that its promotional activity had lagged, resulting in falling market share.
On the back of this more focused strategy, the company reported its highest mass GGR share in over three years in Q3 with no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“Our goal is to remain consistent with our reinvestment strategy going forward and to achieve greater profitability as revenues grow in the future,” Dumont explained.
“With respect to operating expenses, as we mentioned last quarter, we have elected over the last year to invest in additional table operating hours, increased sales, marketing and customer service personnel, and enhanced levels of customer service. We continue to believe these investments are critical to the achievement of our long-term objectives.
“These objectives are providing outstanding service and hospitality to our customers and creating unique and memorable experiences.”
Despite acknowledging the aggressive strategy, both Dumont and Sands China President, CEO and Executive Director Grant Chum said the company had “optimized” its reinvestment levels to more stable levels over the past three quarters.
“We’ve remained very consistent in the reinvestment strategy,” offered Chum. “We have optimized the program significantly over the last nine months and we’ve been able to gain share partly because we’ve been able to invest back into the customer experience, both in terms of service levels as well as our event calendar.
“So, I think you’re seeing some of the positive progress we’re making in that regard.”
Sands China has set a long-term target of US$700 million in quarterly EBITDA, having this morning reported EBITDA of US$529 million from Macau operations for the September 2026 quarter.
