Las Vegas Sands - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sands Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. We will open the floor for your questions and comments following the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mr. Daniel Briggs, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at Sands. Sir, the floor is yours,

Daniel Briggs (SVP of Investor Relations)

Thank you. Thanks for joining us today. Joining the call today are Robert Goldstein, our Chairman and CEO; Patrick Dumont, our President and COO; Dr. Wilfred Wong, the President of Sands China; and Grant Chum, EVP of Asia Operations and CFO, pardon me, of Sands China. Today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements. We'll be making those under the safe harbor provision of federal securities laws. The company's actual results may differ materially from the results reflected in those forward-looking statements. In addition, we will discuss non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are included in our press release. We have posted an earnings presentation on our website. We may refer to that presentation during the call.

For the Q&A session, we ask those with interest to please pose one question and one follow-up, so we might allow everyone with interest the opportunity to participate. This presentation is being recorded. I'll now turn the call over to Rob.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Thank you, Dan, and good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. The powerful recovery taking place in Macao and Singapore is evident in our results. We believe it's early days, and there's still room to run in both those markets. We continue to invest in both markets for our future growth. We do have a structural advantage in Macao based on our scale. As the market accelerates, we will be a major beneficiary in the future. Singapore continued to do well despite two impediments. We're in the midst of a billion-dollar renovation, which does impact adversely the results in Singapore. In addition, we haven't seen a full return of the Chinese premium mass segment yet. This iconic building has a very bright future. Cash flow recovery is in full bloom, so it's very, very enjoyable to say, "Yay, dividends!" Let's go to some Q&A. First question, please.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you would like to enter the queue to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad now. If you're listening on speakerphone today, please pick up your handset to provide optimum sound quality. Also, we ask each participant to limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Please hold a moment while we poll for questions. The first question today is coming from Joe Greff from JPMorgan. Joe, your line is live.

Joe Greff (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, everyone.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Hi, Joe.

Joe Greff (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Rob, Patrick, Dan, and the team in Macao, I'd love to get your view on margins in Macao, both within the quarter and then just broadly, how are you thinking about it going forward. When you look at the months within the 2Q, was there a differential between, you know, margins exiting the quarter in June versus the first couple of months? Then, related to that, I'm assuming you're under the belief and impression that monthly GGR can continue to grow sequentially. I would imagine in the summer months, that would follow a typical sequential seasonal trend. Margins from here probably have more upside than downside from 2Q levels. My question is specifically this: going forward, how do you think about the flow-through on incremental revenue growth from here? Then I have a follow-up.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Joe, I'll start and then turn it over to Grant for the margin discussion. Obviously, we do believe that the market is starting to get stronger, and you saw that in our numbers. Our June results were the strongest, almost $200 million of EBITDA in June alone. We had acceleration in the quarter. Our numbers, I think, speak for themselves, and they speak loudly. Six months ago, we were virtually closed. In the month of June, again, we do have $200 million EBITDA. Visitation increases in Macao, and I think the visitation issue is going to drive, obviously, the GGR escalation. I just do believe we will be the beneficiary because of our scale. Fifteen billion dollars of investment will pay off quite well.

We have adequate room to run because we have capacity in every segment, be it gaming and non-gaming. We have, I think, a very strong advantage in that regard. Again, we think as the GGRs escalate to more visitation, we will be a major beneficiary. As to margin, Grant, I hope you're awake in Macao. Please answer that.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Thanks, Rob. Yeah, Joe, our EBITDA margin obviously has continued to improve as we grow the revenues on optimal cost structure. normalized margin's up about 240 basis points quarter on quarter. I think that will continue to rise as revenues continue to recover. We do have a more profitable business mix than 2019, as does the whole industry, because we have a greater proportion of mass relative to VIP. Recall, relative to the industry, we've always had a much greater proportion of our GGR in mass. 87% of our GGR this quarter is in mass, versus 71% in Q2 of 2019.

Also, the shift between gaming and non-gaming, and recall we're the dominant revenue generator in non-gaming in the industry, and non-gaming is rising as a percentage of our revenues, going from 17% in 2019 to 22% this quarter. Both of these mix shifts are positive for margin. We are obviously reinvesting our revenues back into the business to increase our capability to handle more visitors, chiefly increasing our headcount to service more hotel rooms. That's for sure one of the things that we've achieved this quarter, where our room operating capacity... than 700 rooms on average for the quarter.

As we go into the summer, as we discussed last time, we're heading back to 12,000 rooms in terms of our operable hotel room capacity. That entire labor issue, shortage issue has dissipated as an impediment. In terms of intra-quarter, margins are related to the revenue recovery rate, and June was the standout month for sure for us. We recovered for the second quarter as a whole, as you can see, 85% of 2019 levels in terms of mass revenues for the second quarter. In June, our mass revenue were about 97%, almost at full recovery to June 2019. The acceleration in June was really very broad-based. We saw underlying visitation recovery, obviously.

Macau visitation recovering to almost 70% of 2019. All of our key volume metrics were up significantly against April and May. Our non-rolling drop increased 15% against April and May in June. Slot handle was up 9%, and rolling volume was up 10%. Across the board, we saw a very sharp acceleration in June.

Joe Greff (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Joe, I'd also reference page 14 of the deck. I think it's instructive to look at what's happening in the provinces beyond Guangdong and non-Guangdong visitation and lack of penetration. It's such early days in this recovery, I think if you look at 14, it gives you a really good snapshot of what we believe is the beginning of a strong recovery. Hopefully, this summer will evidence more and more return to pre-pandemic numbers in the non-Guangdong visitation number. That's going to fuel this business, and as you know, we have the capacity of gaming, non-gaming to participate across the board. That's, we believe, will happen, that will impact margins, but also, it's, in our mind, that's an inevitable factor in Macau. 6 months into this recovery, we're still way behind in terms of visitation.

Joe Greff (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. My follow-up question is this: We've seen, within mainland China, more mixed macroeconomics performance year to date. At the same time in Macau, gross gaming revenues, visitation, retail sales, pretty much most metrics have steadily improved. How do you reconcile the disconnect between China macro and the fundamentals on the ground in Macau, and how do you see that relationship playing out going forward?

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Well, obviously, we prefer a strong macro economy in China. We're hoping for that in the future. We can perform and will perform even if recovery is slower than our business. We'd like to see it come back quickly. As you see in other businesses, you saw LVMH's numbers, you've seen other retail numbers. The retail market in our business doesn't require everyone to be making a strong economic recovery. Just certain segments can make it happen. Again, we're hoping for a strong rebound in China and a stronger macro, which also would impact us positively. I still believe this market will continue to grow in spite of a slower recovery than we'd like in macro China.

Joe Greff (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you. Thank you.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Thanks, Joe.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is coming from Robin Farley from UBS. Robyn, your line is live.

Speaker 14

Hi, thank you. This is actually Arthina for Robyn. I was wondering if you could talk about average spend for mass customer and where you expect that to sort of normalize, thinking about the fact that a portion of higher spender in VIP obviously ends up in mass. Also, that as you open up more hotel room capacity, that ramps up probably higher percentage of grind mass returns to Macau. How do you think about that more normalized spend per mass customer, looking forward into the back half?

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Grant?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Yeah, thanks for the question. I think you can see from the results, the premium mass recovered still faster than the base mass. Sequentially, base mass still grew strongly on the back of improving visitation. As you alluded to, I think as room inventory increases, we're able to cater to more visitors. I would say the spend per head directionally continues to be very strong across both premium mass and base mass. Whilst obviously as the base mass picks up, you'll see more of a mix shift, I think, over time. Within each of the segments, spend per head is actually rising. We are getting high quality, high value tourists into Macau at this point.

We're broadening this to high value, foreign tourism as well. We can see, strong results, this quarter again, in terms of the high-end foreigners. I would say, at this stage, the higher value segments are growing, recovering still at a faster rate. Base mass is picking up as visitation grows and hotel capacity increases. Within each of the segments, i.e, both premium mass and base mass, the spending has actually continues to be very high, and indeed, spend per visitor, is heading in a positive direction.

Speaker 14

Great. Thank you, Grant. Just one quick follow-up. With your dividend reinstated here, I was wondering if you could update us on your overall kind of capital return strategy and, how you think about buybacks. Thank you.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Hi, how are you? You know, I think when we view the business in terms of capital allocation, we feel like we have a lot of good opportunities, really for big growth, both in Macau and Singapore. That investment will continue to drive our expansion of non-gaming amenities and drive our cash flow.

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

We also think that, we're going to be able to return a lot of capital in the future. We were a very shareholder-friendly company in the past. We're very focused on return of capital. I think when you look at our prior program and what we're looking to do going forward, I think we'll probably look to have more of a balance between share repurchase and dividends. You know, I think when we thought about the dividend size, it was something that leaves there's plenty of room for investments in the future. It allows us to grow over time, which is our focus, to really grow our asset base and grow our cash flow capacity. It also allows for future share repurchases, which is something we're motivated to do.

I think the dividend size today gives us flexibility with our capital allocation. Really, over time, we intend to shrink the share count. You know, I think having a balanced capital return program is very important for us. We talked about it with the board. I think management is very focused on it. We'll probably look to be more programmatic about share repurchase than we have been in the past. I think really, this gives us the flexibility to repurchase more shares over time and to really address our capital expenditure needs. I think what we're going to try to do is allocate capital to growth, which we think we have a lot of opportunities that are unique for our company.

Focus on the dividend as a cornerstone of our program, as we always have, but allow ourselves to have more balance, more flexibility, in the future to do more programmatic share repurchases and really shrink that share count.

Speaker 14

Thank you. Very helpful. Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is coming from Carlo Santarelli, from Deutsche Bank. Your line is live.

Carlo Santarelli (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, everybody. Thanks. Robert, or maybe one of the guys in Macau, I was wondering, as kind of the market has shifted, and you've seen a couple quarters that at least look more normalized. As operators who may have been more VIP focused in the past, or certainly more mixed towards VIP relative to you guys, have you seen any change in behavior as it pertains to kind of mass reinvestment, levels across the market wide?

Wilfred Wong (President)

No. Grant, why don't you take that?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Sure. Yeah, thanks for the question. I think on the whole, we see a very stable, competitive environment. I think all of the operators, the entire industry is continuing to invest in non-gaming and diversification and bringing about, I think, a really stellar event programming into the market, which is helpful, I think, not just for growing the tourism economy, but also increasing the business volumes for all of the operators. I think you're seeing the positive results from that investment in non-gaming and events programming even in this past three months. Not least in terms of our non-gaming programming that we put in place, that's been really driving business levels and visitation.

In terms of reinvestments, yeah, I think it's relatively similar to what we've seen in the recent quarters. Clearly, it's become, you know, continues to be, actually, always been a very competitive market in premium mass and will continue to be. I think, there's very rational behavior amongst the operators and the industry in general, led by the larger players. As I said, the focus of the industry has been to reinvest in a non-gaming programming, and that's been a tremendous driver to the recovery so far.

Carlo Santarelli (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you for that. If I could, as a follow-up, just in terms of the expansion at Marina Bay Sands, I know you guys were going through some stuff and reviewing some budget needs and design plans and everything else. Is there anything you guys could share at this point in time with how we should be thinking about that timeline, spend, et cetera?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

Sure. First off, we have very strong feelings about the future success of Singapore. If you look at the results from the quarter, look at the visitation that we have, the type of customer we have coming through the building, the fact that China has not fully recovered, and if you look at sort of the nature of where Singapore sits today, in a unique confluence of events in terms of the growing economies in Southeast Asia, we have a very strong view about the future of Singapore, and it's very positive. We're very motivated to make an investment there and expand our capacity at Marina Bay Sands. Right now, we're in discussions with the government about what the final form of our project will look like.

There's obviously been a lot of change to the market in terms of market potential, the government's goals around high-value tourism, and to be fair, the way we want to grow into that market. There's some adjustments that we're making, and hopefully, we'll have a better sense of what that'll look like in the upcoming quarters. Right now, we're in discussion, and hopefully, we'll have a chance to continue with the final version of our project in short order. We're looking forward to getting started.

Carlo Santarelli (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you, Patrick. Appreciate it.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is coming from Stephen Grambling, from Morgan Stanley. Steven, your line is live.

Stephen Grambling (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, thanks. As a follow-up to Macau, the $200 million number you mentioned in June, is that a clean number that you would think of to build off of, given normal seasonality, or and should we see that build as base mass continues to recover?

Wilfred Wong (President)

What was the second portion? I didn't see this last part, last thing you said, recover?

Stephen Grambling (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

I guess it's a question of, as base mass continues to recover, how should it impact that $200 million number?

Wilfred Wong (President)

It should go up. I mean, honestly, I think that 200... The reason we called that out was because obviously, a strong month, especially in light of the seasonality of June, not being a great month.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Look, our position is simple: We think Macau will just continue to get stronger, and the recovery is going to be predicated on visitation in all segments. Our, again, our advantage is very structural and very different from other operators. We have capacity to grow. Base mass, premium mass, rooms, retail, everything you can think of, the customers want, we have the product to service that, and that does differ from our competitors. I think June is the beginning, and hopefully, the summer will be evidence to that. We'll see how July, August, September holds up. Our story is pretty simple: more visitation, especially more base mass, more penetration in China will yield bigger GGR, and we'll be a huge recipient of that. I think that's the story we believe in wholeheartedly.

I guess I take comfort in the fact, again, six months ago, we weren't sure we'd be open. We had a basically a closed business in December of 2022. Here we are in the summer of 2023, looking at a, you know, a $2.4 billion run rate just based on June. We believe that can accelerate. You know, we're firm believers in Macau, always have been. We've never vacillated in our belief. That market is just special. The recovery in China is slower in general for all segments than we thought it would be, but it's coming on now, and this summer will be a great indicator how fast it'll go back to $26 billion, $30 billion, $32 billion. I don't know what the peak is, but I just believe the acceleration will be evidenced this summer.

Again, we are in this very, very good position of having plenty of assets to put to work in Macau. Plenty of rooms. The rooms are all open. The retail is open and functioning, slots and tables. As the market grows, we should be a awfully big beneficiary from that new demand that's coming.

Stephen Grambling (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Just to be clear, do you think that there was any kind of one-time benefits in June, whether it is Jackie Chan or other things, that could have been driving that, so that may have been an outsized number? Is that you are saying that is a clean number to build off of?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

I think the key thing to note is that we've had these non-gaming, what we call lifestyle programs, which includes entertainment and other activations for years. They were very successful pre-pandemic because we were able to connect with our customers and bring in very high-value tourism that was high frequency. We've started those programs again. The concert you just referred to was very popular, and I could let Grant comment on that or Wilfred comment on it. I think the key thing for this is our non-gaming programs are working. That the investment in non-gaming, that the activations, that the driving customer visitation through social media is working. The visitation of high-value customers flows through in our results in that month.

I think the interesting thing is, air traffic to Macau and to Hong Kong is, like, around 50% of where it was pre-pandemic. Our story is one of visitation. It was led by higher-value customers and premium mass, but now as people can begin to travel to Macau more easily and more frequently, they're starting to return, they're starting to consume all of our different amenities. Not only the hotel, but the concerts, the food and beverage, the retail, all of it's working. You know, we'd like to believe we can grow from that number materially as our base mass, non-rate of play returns, as more premium mass customers show up, and as Grant said earlier in the call, more of our hotel rooms come online. We think we've invested through the pandemic in very high-quality products.

The customer response has been very strong, and we're going to price through it. We'd like to believe that there's margin room there. We'd like to believe that as we activate our non-gaming activities, that we'll draw more customers to concerts and other events, and then it'll continue to grow overall, the desirability of visitation of Macau. Grant, do you have anything to add?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Thanks, Patrick. I mean, as you rightly say, we've had a very long track record going back 16 years in terms of hosting world-class entertainment events at the Venetian Cotai Arena. And this was always part of our lifestyle programming. Jackie has been, you know, terrifically successful in the past with us as well. He played in both 2017 and 2018, in the summers of those years. I think what makes this June special is, firstly, he played a record-breaking 12 shows across 4 weekends. I don't think that's ever been done before in Macau. Not only that, Macau was the first touring stop of the entire global tour that Jackie Chan has just launched.

That he chose to launch his new global tour at the Venetian Macau, I think is testament to both Macau's, you know, rising destination appeal, the importance of it as an entertainment hub, regionally, as well as our own track record in partnering with Jackie and his team over many years. You know, the month was strong, not just the days when the concert was on, which is nine months of the month. It's a combination of factors. I think the underlying visitation to Macau, like Patrick referenced, was improving throughout the quarter and into June, even though it was into a traditionally weaker part of the travel calendar. Hotel availability improved, transportation improved. Concert series undoubtedly played a part, but that's just one component of the ongoing lifestyle program.

I think that programming is not just done by us, but by the whole industry, and I think that will make Macau continue to recover rapidly. It speaks volumes to, I think, the new direction that the government is pursuing, and I think, is a great, is a great start, to the new concession.

Stephen Grambling (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Makes sense. Thanks so much. I yield the floor. Thanks.

Operator (participant)

... Thank you. The next question is coming from Shaun Kelley from Bank of America. Shaun, your line is live.

Shaun Kelley (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Good morning, Grant. Maybe I just want to go back to the cost side a little bit. It's probably for Grant, but if I caught it correctly, I think in an earlier question, you said, you know, room complement was up to 10,700 on average in the quarter, heading to 12,000. Could you just give us a little bit more color on that? Are we at the 12,000 when we exit the quarter there? Just what does that imply for, you know, kind of necessary either headcount or kind of cost ramp up from here? Is there a little bit more remaining?

Actually, is this number that we saw in the quarter pretty reflective of kind of what you think the baseline operating costs should look like from here moving forward?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Yeah. Thanks, Shaun. I think you heard it right. It's averaged around 10,700 rooms a day in terms of our operable capacity from a labor standpoint during the quarter. We actually increased further towards the end of the quarter. As we go into third quarter, we're roughly at that 12,000 rooms mark, which I said, ±, but typically, there's always a handful of rooms out of order for maintenance, regular maintenance. We're effectively back at full inventory now and ready for the peak summer season, which is getting underway later this month.

Shaun Kelley (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Great. Thanks for that.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Yeah.

Shaun Kelley (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Maybe a similar question, but kind of transferring over to Marina Bay Sands. There, you know, we've seen kind of 2 quarters in a row with margins kind of in the, you know, 46-47% camp. That's still a couple hundred basis points below pre-COVID, and I know there's a lot going on there. I do believe in the slide deck, you guys called out that the renovation activity was either over or close to. Maybe just an update on some of that renovation disruption and how we sort of, you know, exited the quarter there, and just your thoughts on cost, which I think were up about 10% Q-on-Q. You know, is there anything, any...

As the full complement of rooms comes back, can we also see some margin leverage or improvement sequentially or going forward? How should we think about that in the second half?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

I think what's important to note about Marina Bay Sands, as Robert did in his remarks earlier, the building's under a lot of change. It's changed for the better. We're investing a lot, and we're creating what is arguably the best product we've ever had. The customer response is very strong, but we're mid-flight in that. I think a couple of things to consider, our biggest suites, so our 200 multi-bay suites, are the last to come online. That's what's gonna come in this quarter and in next quarter. The full potential of the renovated Tower One and Tower Two will not really be reached until those suites are online. We've been operating without them.

We'll be able to price better, we'll have higher margin, and we'll have, like, a larger quantum of cash flow from this high-value segment coming into the building because they didn't have any place to stay, and now we're adding 200 suites of the highest quality we've ever had. That's gonna be meaningful, and that will address, let's call it some of the operating leverage we wanna get out of our cost base. We've had a significant number of rooms out of inventory. I think between some of the cost increases that we've seen, in the market for inputs, to be fair, the gaming tax increase, there are some things we need to overcome through higher-value customers, through pricing, and through volumes.

I think the one thing that's important to note, aside from the fact that we haven't had our most important room inventory available to us, our casino floor has also been under renovation. That's coming to a close. Most importantly, airlift from China isn't really back yet. When you look at play across the quarter from rated play from China, it's increased each month across the quarter. As China visitation comes back into the fold and our new multi-bay suites come online, we will have an opportunity to price through some of the cost increases and improve margin.

Shaun Kelley (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, everyone.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

I just wanna say, Shaun, I think moving to the labor side, I think margins will escalate because in every business, be it hospitality or retail, when you've got an exemplary product people want, you've got pricing power. I think when we're finished over there, it's taking a long time. It's a slug, we get through this thing, the room product we offer, the F&B, the retail, rethinking our retail. You see this all over the map in terms of, you know, why does Hermès and now Louis Vuitton, you know, get these ridiculously high prices? High margins. People want the product. They offer a superior product. Same thing happens in the watch world, same thing happens in the hospitality world. I think we're building something over there that people don't understand how good it is until you see it and understand it.

It's gonna be really special, and we'll be able to get pricing at every level, be it rooms, casino, gaming, retail. When this building is done, I'm amazed we're doing these kind of numbers with a ripped-up building. When this building is done, our pricing power is gonna go to another level. I think that's what MBS takes them to a different gear. The margins always take care of themselves as long as you have the product people want and will pay for it. I do believe when you guys get a chance to get over there and see MBS and experience what we're doing, you'll appreciate these comments. It's gonna be a pricing power issue. We're not gonna cut costs. If anything, we'll add costs to add more labor.

We're gonna have a really good product people wanna be at, but that enables you to charge prices that are high. I think that's our strategy over there. We're gonna earn our way to success by offering a great product people are gonna pay up for. It's just that simple. Margin will reflect that when the day comes out.

Shaun Kelley (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Thank you very much.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is coming from David Katz from Jefferies. David, your line is live.

David Katz (Managing Director)

afternoon, everyone. Thanks.

... I know you've touched on this from a number of different perspectives, but I'd love just a little more help or insight in terms of how margins should evolve, specifically for the Macau enterprise in total. You know, just looking back at where normal was in 2019 and what a new normal could look like now, you know, how high the ceiling is, any qualitative perspectives around there and how we get there the next several quarters would be helpful. Thank you.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

I want to give Grant take that question, but I do want to say, David, again, I think I'll use the words structural advantage. I think we're in this very different position than some people, in that we were built for this market in terms of scale and size in every area of our business. You know, base mass, premium mass. We're still handicapped by the base mass hasn't fully recovered, but I think our reinvestment in the last 20 years is going to make this product grow and grow. There's a margin in demand. I think we're just built for this environment. I'm highly confident margins will rise with our increased revenue. Grant, can you add any color?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Yeah, thanks for the question. I mean, again, we don't have a specific forecast on how high, you know, the margins will rise to. I think you can look at the structure of the business. I mean, as Rob says, I mean, we have an excellent structure in terms of our business mix. We have an efficient cost structure. I think, you know, the way you will be looking at this is, you know, how high will revenues go? It is true that the segments that are going to drive more revenue recovery, and then eventually growing structurally, will be the higher margin segments within gaming, mass versus VIP, and then also non-gaming versus gaming.

I think our non-gaming is recovering even more strongly than gaming. We're at, you know, 93% of our 2019 non-gaming revenues. Our hotel revenues for the quarter are 8% higher than 2019 on fewer rooms being available. Our retail business is looking very strong. Our tenant sales were up 28% this quarter, and that will continue especially with our Four Seasons that's ongoing.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Thank you. As my follow-up, with respect to share repurchases, Patrick, which you touched on earlier, obviously not asking for, you know, specifics around when and where and how much, but any color on sort of boundaries or accomplishments or, you know, how we might think qualitatively as to, you know, when we get there, and when we can start to think about that, you know, in a more tangible way?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

I think we just restarted our return on capital program this quarter. I think it shows the board and management's confidence in the long-term performance of the business. We'll look to grow that dividend over time, in a way that also allows us to have a repurchase program. I can't give you a specific size about the volume of our purchases for the time being today, because we still have a lot of things to plan for. In our capital allocation thought process, we're going to think about it in the way that it was described previously. I think what's also important to note is that we're going to have variability in our CapEx. We have a lot of large projects that we're considering. Some of them are more certain than others. We're very excited about Marina Bay Sands expansion.

We think it's going to be an unbelievable asset. We're very excited about it. The timing may be a little delayed from where we are today. In Macau, we're going to invest as much as we possibly can because we think the growth there will be extraordinary. We have other options, other things we're looking at, and the timing of that potential outflow is unknown, or if it's going to happen. The good news is, we'll have the ability to modulate our CapEx based on how we grow the business and use the excess capital and return it to shareholders, through share repurchases, and hopefully in a programmatic way.

While I can't give you an exact amount today, I will tell you our intent is to look at our, what's called CapEx for growth, CapEx for the future, a way to grow the business, look at the dividend program and ensure that it grows in an appropriate manner, and then look at a return of capital program through share repurchases, that are shareholder friendly. I think that's how we'll look at it. As it were, as where we are right now, I can't give you a size yet, but we'll continue to look at it in the upcoming quarters, and we'll talk about it.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Okay, appreciate it. Thanks very much.

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

Appreciate it.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Good luck.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Thank you.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is coming from Brandt Montour from Barclays. Brant, your line is live.

Brandt Montour (Director and Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Hey, good evening, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. On the VIP business, which grew nicely for you guys in the quarter, but wasn't as strong as the overall market, can you just update us, how important is this segment to you when you plan the next couple of years? Then can you just touch on the current dynamics of the VIP market overall away from you and how your strategy compares to the broader market?

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

I'm sorry, just the first part, you said we didn't do as well as the market in the VIP?

Brandt Montour (Director and Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

VIP quarter-over-quarter grew below market-wide VIP.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

I think we, you know, I think we're very comfortable with going to VIP and the base mass. I think our portfolio is so well-rounded. Venetian is still the king of Macau. It's going to be the first place, $1 billion-plus is earned EBITDA-wise, and it shows no signs but to recover its previous position. We built a portfolio that is very well-rounded. The Four Seasons enables us to compete very well with anybody. The room product there and the gaming products are pretty much unparalleled. Again, the London early stages, we're halfway done the renovation. The full renovation is still a while down the road. Except for the Sands, which I think we give up on the potential of a lot of growth being down there in Macau.

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

The peninsula is certainly a very difficult, challenging place to make a lot more money. The shift has been to Cotai, which of course, all our assets other than Sands are there. We remain convinced there's more room to grow in the region. I think our position on the VIP and the base mass is as good as it gets. We've got more suites than anybody else, more share than anybody else, and I think more potential to grow because of the sheer mass size of our buildings. Again, we referenced lifestyle. We built a business there, whether it's Jackie Chan this month or somebody else next month, whether it's the best retail, the best restaurants. We built a lifestyle approach that I think puts us at the top of the heap in that area, both as a product offerings, but also quality of product.

very comfortable with going and have no reason to believe we can't grow and keep growing both in base and premium. I think the idea we're now a premium mass player is unfair and unjustified by the numbers. Grant?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Yeah, I think on the VIP, our strategy hasn't changed. In fact, obviously, the way the market has evolved in Macau for VIP, it fits our strategy more than ever because we're focused on the premium direct segment out of the VIP. We've historically had a very strong sales network around the rest of Asia. We're working very hard bringing foreign top-tier players into Macau, and we're having, I would say, initially, great success in doing so. Our foreign rolling volumes are already back to 2019 levels in the second quarter, obviously far ahead of the general tourism recovery from overseas markets for Macau.

I think it's anchored around premium direct, a very strong sales network around Asia, and a continued effort, intensifying the effort to bring more foreign, top-tier patrons to Macau. As Rob said, it's a great destination for all of those markets, and we intend to make full use of our great product and destination to attract those foreigners.

Brandt Montour (Director and Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Great. Thanks for that. Just to follow up on CapEx, I'm trying to reconcile slide 23. That's really helpful year-by-year build you guys do for us with last quarter. Looks like MBS expansion, I guess, was temporarily taken off. You guys commented on that already. You added Londoner phase II. Want to make sure that that's new and hear any, maybe thoughts about, you know, targets, return targets for that project. Lastly, you know, I think there were some reports from you guys or came from you guys through the media mid-quarter about a new hotel tower at the Venetian.

You know, if that's a, if that's a true or a plan, I'm just curious if that's going to be included in the three and a half billion CapEx commitment that you've, you know, agreed with the government on?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

Just a few points. We did take Singapore expansion off because until we finalize the program and have final approval from the government, we don't know exactly what it'll cost. We're going to hold off on that until we have a project decided upon. In terms of The Londoner phase II, I think the great thing about The Londoner is when we first started, we actually did it pre-concession during the pandemic, and we built through the pandemic and into the concession renewal. We came out on the other side, and the thesis was validated. It's incredibly well received by the market. It looks spectacular. Customer response has been very strong, and we're excited about the results, and that market validation was very important.

Now we're going to roll into the second part of the building and really, hopefully tap into the absolute earning power of that, let's call it, really well laid out, really thought through, hotel offering and amenity offering. In our long-term view, that's something that will hopefully one day come close to the Venetian in terms of its productivity. The potential is there. Very excited about that opportunity. In terms of return targets, I think, you know, it's not something that we talk about directly, but in our minds, you know, there's a lot of potential growth in our deepest and most profitable segments, which is mass and premium mass.

You know, with the revised or renovated hotel suites, hotel rooms and suites that we'll have there, we think we'll be able to address the market incredibly well, just like we did with the first phase of the Londoner. I think that's kind of how we're thinking about it. In terms of a new hotel tower, I don't think we can comment on rumors. I don't think that's something we're familiar with. I think for us, we're really focused on really delivering against our concession renewal requirements, investing in the non-gaming amenities that really help define our portfolio in Macau and really drive visitation. Grant, do you have any other comments you'd like to add?

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

No, Patrick, you covered it very well. I think the Londoner success, you know, we've had the wholesale reinvention of the property's positioning, and the branding and the functionality. Actually, it's easy to forget that most of the hotel room accommodation today still remains the original Sands Cotai Central rooms, as is half of our main gaming floor. Phase II is really about making Londoner more Londoner. We need to reposition and upgrade Sheraton and the Conrad hotels, as well as a comprehensive upgrade of the Pacifica Casino on the Sheraton side. We'll be adding more non-gaming amenities and attractions to the Londoner, you know, many of which are also included in our concession commitments.

more signature restaurants that have international appeal, state-of-the-art wellness center, other sort of lifestyle attractions. Beyond that, over a longer time frame, we've always committed, since the concession retender, to developing this new landmark garden-themed attraction, The Conservatory, to be located in the gardens south of The London Resort. That will take longer time frame to develop. First off, we're able to get right down to work on London phase II, on the hotels and the casino refresh, because we've been working on this during the pandemic on the design.

We're now, as Patrick said, I mean, we've seen it, you know, the product that we have come out with being hugely validated, and with the market recovery, with the return of visitation and the hotel guests, we're keen to get moving on to this phase II. That's why we're able to start the actual construction in the second half of this year.

Brandt Montour (Director and Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Great. Thanks, all.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is coming from Steven Wieczynski from Stifel. Steve, your line is live.

Steven Wieczynski (Managing Director of Gaming and Leisure)

Yeah. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Rob, or whoever wants to take this, and Patrick, you touched on this a little bit, so this might be you. Slide 14, I think is pretty interesting, you know, around visitation trends during the quarter with Hong Kong back to, you know, actually above pre-COVID levels, Guangdong pretty much back. You know, the rest of China, though, remains well below pre-COVID levels. You know, wondering how you guys are thinking about the recovery in that segment moving forward and what you're watching. I know, Patrick, you talked about air capacity. Is it really just air capacity, or, you know, are there other factors out there that, you know, but might be holding that segment back?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

You know, I think one thing I do wanna say is we're really excited about it. Seeing the visitation come back has been thrilling. Customer responses, seeing patrons from before, seeing new patrons, it's really a fantastic place. We were in Macau recently, and it just, there's great energy, great electricity in the city. I think some of it is air capacity. To be fair, some of it's, you know, the, let's call it the more mass player, the underrated play, that The Venetian and other of our assets were so strongly set up for, that really drove a lot of high volume and high margin business. All of those segments still haven't come back in full.

Between the airlift and, you know, if you turn to the next page, actually page 15, where it shows the visitation for 2019, and then compared to this last quarter, you can kind of see that we have a lot of room to go. We have a lot of patrons who will wanna come back and see us, they're just starting now to make their trips happen. I think, you know, from where we sit, we have a great ability to accommodate these customers as we've done in the past. We have the capacity. We have very interesting non-gaming amenities, we have entertainment, and we think this is the most important tourism market in Asia and the region, and people are gonna show up. We also have international visitors showing up, which is kind of a new thing.

You know, I think the power of Macau is gonna continue to grow and grow. When I look at slide 15, I just see a lot of potential, and our team is working hard to try to capture that potential. Ran, I wanna turn it over to you and see if you have any additional remarks.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Yeah, I was gonna point to that page as well, Patrick. Yeah, Dan's famous page 15 on the penetration. Actually, you can see from the Eastern China, Yangtze River Delta region, especially Shanghai and Zhejiang Province, in fact, the recovery rate is higher than Guangdong's, because I think you have better airlift, better propensity to travel cross-border from those source markets. We've already seen a very, you know, big upward shift in the recovery rate of non-Guangdong relative to first quarter. I think in the first quarter, when we're looking at that recovery rate, it was less than 30%, and now we're approaching 50%. Non-Guangdong visitation, second quarter, grew almost, I think in the high 40s, sequentially.

It is coming back, as we said, as airlift improves, transportation in general improves, and also hotel room availability has been increasing. Actually will be further increasing for Macau as a whole in the third quarter. We have some new hotel rooms coming online. All of that, I think is positive for the outlook for continued recovery in the visitation outside of Guangdong province.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Maybe guys, is that the trajectory may be uncertain, but the end result is very certain. I mean, this market always comes back, and I think you watch this summer and you'll see some very positive indications. I don't think anybody knows when or exactly why it's not fully recovering in certain areas, but we just know it's gonna recover. It's a question of when that happens. The result, I think, is unquestioned. Again, I hope this summer, we show some strong evidence. I mean, July, hopefully we'll show a big number, the best number of the year thus far, and that starts to add this recovery.

Steven Wieczynski (Managing Director of Gaming and Leisure)

Okay, great. I'll leave it there, guys. Appreciate the color. Thanks.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Thank you.

Grant Chum (CEO and EVP)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The final question today is coming from Daniel Politzer, from Wells Fargo. Daniel, your line is live.

Daniel Politzer (Director, Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Hey, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. Just a quick follow-up, Rob, on that comment about July. I mean, is there any reason other than just the airlift capacity, that we wouldn't expect that normal seasonality and the build off the momentum that you saw in June, whether it's macro concerns, behavioral, entertainment, calendar? Like, is it really just, you know, simply airlift, or there are other reasons in particular?

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

No, no, there's multiple variables at work here. I wouldn't wanna, you know, pigeonhole airlift, economy, visa. I don't think we really know the answer to that. It's an aggregate answer that can't be unpacked clearly. I do think, though, seasonality, summer's always been the time. This is the first summer post-COVID. I, for one, believe summer's gonna prove very strong. Some business people boasting numbers look like. Hope they're right. I believe some of them will be very indicative of new growth in this market. Look, again, I think you have to look back on how quickly this thing recovered. You know, six months ago, we were in dire straits, and now we're unpacking $200 million month of June. We're very bullish on Macao long term.

Again, trajectory may be uncertain, but end result's very clear. We're gonna get there, we're gonna make a lot of money in Macao, and, we hope we have more, good news in the near future to offer to you. I'm hoping for a big summer for the market.

Daniel Politzer (Director, Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Got it. Just one more quick one. We haven't touched on, the digital strategy. There's been some headlines lately that there's been some progress there. Do you have anything that you could possibly share? As you in high level, as you think about this strategy, how do you reconcile that with regulatory concerns, given your presence in Macao and your relationship with the government there?

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

You know, I think we said a while ago that we were going to invest in round up digital activities. We're not buyers, we're builders. I think for a while, we've been working on a couple of digital initiatives. I think the key thing for us is, it's still early days yet. We don't really have much to talk about. We're very confident about it. We think long term, there's real potential there. Our focus is gonna be on highly regulated markets. That would mean Europe and North America. Our goal is to make sure that we maintain our regulatory standards, in the best possible way, only working with partners where that makes sense and being very selective.

In our mind, we're very focused on regulatory certainty and being in strongly regulated. Someone put us on hold. Sorry about that. I think, you know, our view is that, you know, these digital initiatives have potential. We're gonna continue to invest in them for the long term. We are committed for the long term, and I think our goal is gonna be to focus on highly regulated markets.

Daniel Politzer (Director, Equity Research Analyst of Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure)

Got it. Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.

Patrick Dumont (COO and President)

Thank you, everybody.

Rob Goldstein (CEO and Chairman)

Thank you.