Las Vegas Sands Profit More Than Doubles, Boosted by $526 Million Benefit From Tax-Law Changes

   By Maria Armental 
 

Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s (LVS) quarterly profit more than doubled on a $526 million one-time benefit from recent changes in U.S. tax law.

Shares, which had set a 52-week high the day before, rose 1% to $78.20 in after-hours trading Wednesday.

The Macau market continued to recover in the end-of-the-year quarter, helped by higher hotel occupancy rates and an acceleration of the so-called mass gambling sector, Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson said in a prepared statement.

Casinos typically earn better margins from mass gamblers, as they don't need to pay commissions to middlemen, known as junkets.

Sands China's mass table games win, Mr. Adelson said, rose 26.9%, the company's highest mass gaming win since the first quarter of 2014.

Overall, fourth-quarter profit surged to $1.12 billion, or $1.53 a share, from $509 million, or 64 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding the impact from the tax-law changes and other items, profit rose to 88 cents a share from 62 cents a year earlier.

Revenue, less promotional allowances, rose 12% to $3.44 billion. Casino revenue, which accounts for the bulk of the company's revenue overall, rose 13% in the quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected adjusted profit of 77 cents a share and $3.27 billion in revenue.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 24, 2018 16:58 ET (21:58 GMT)

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