Venetian profit falls; cash flow, revenue improve

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

Las Vegas Sands Inc., owner of The Venetian resort and the Grand Canal Shops on the Las Vegas Strip, today reported fourth-quarter cash flow of $63.4 million, an increase of 8.7 percent from the year-ago quarter.

But net income of $2.6 million was down from $6 million in the 2002 quarter because of unlucky play by the casino at its table games, increased depreciation expense and interest expense associated with placing in service its new Venezia Tower at The Venetian and increased pre-opening and developmental expenses for the Sands Macau casino in China.

Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $164.1 million, an increase of 6.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002.

The Venetian today reiterated earlier statements that it is:

Planning the development of another megaresort on the Strip between The Venetian and Steve Wynn's hotel-casino.

Studying whether to sell its Grand Canal Shops at The Venetian.

Preparing to open its first Macau casino and developing a second property there, the Venetian Macau.

"The opening of the 1,013-room Venezia Tower at The Venetian during 2003 contributed considerably to increased revenues and margins," Las Vegas Sands President William Weidner said in a statement. "The opening of the tower coincided with the debut of The Venetian Congress Center expansion of 150,000 square feet, including three ballrooms, 64 meeting rooms and three permanent boardrooms. Also, early in the first quarter, we opened a new restaurant, Bouchon, operated by Thomas Keller of the French Laundry restaurant of Napa Valley. We believe that the addition of The Venezia rooms coupled with the additional meeting space, resulted in increased group and individual room demand. The additional room guests resulted in increased demand for our casino, food and beverage, and retail business, along with increased mall traffic and the enhanced mall tenants' sales, all positively contributing to the overall continuing strength of The Venetian during 2003."