Macau gaming concessionaire Sands China Ltd says it fell to a net loss of US$125 million and Adjusted EBITDA loss of US$14 million in August as a result of tighter border restrictions between Macau and mainland China.
In a disclosure to investors outlining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sands China’s operations in recent months, the company revealed that net revenues fell from US$265 million in July to US$148 million in August, resulting in net loss widening from US$63 million to US$125 million.
The US$14 million Adjusted EBITDA loss in August followed positive Adjusted EBITDA of US$44 million in July.
As noted by Sands China, the period included implementation from the end of July 2021 and for most of August of tighter border restrictions which saw visitors from Guangdong Province required to submit a negative COVID-19 test certification issued within 48 hours, and for a brief period within 12 hours, before being relaxed back to a 7-day requirement towards the end of August.
Despite the subdued results, which follow a net loss of US$340 million and Adjusted EBITDA loss of US$162 million during July and August 2020, Sands China said it retains a strong liquidity position of US$2.56 billion, consisting of US$556 million of total cash and cash equivalents and US$2.0 billion of available borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facility.
“SCL believes it is able to support continuing operations, complete the major construction projects that are underway and respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic challenges,” it said.
“SCL has taken various mitigating measures to manage through the current environment, including a cost and capital expenditure reduction program to minimize cash outflow for non-essential items.”
On the current border situation, Sands China said it “continues to look forward to the opportunity to welcome more guests back to SCL’s properties as greater volumes of visitors are eventually able to travel to Macau. Demand for the SCL’s offerings from customers who have been able to visit remains robust, but pandemic-related travel restrictions and the evolving COVID-19 situation in Macao and mainland China continue to limit visitation and hinder SCL’s current financial performance.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has materially adversely affected the number of visitors to SCL’s facilities and disrupted SCL’s operations, and SCL expects this adverse impact to continue until the COVID-19 pandemic is contained.”
