'Larger than expected' profit decrease for Las Vegas Sands

2008-02-05 17:01:39

Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson's casino operating company, has reported a 65 per cent fall in net income in its fourth-quarter earnings report.

The gaming giant, which recently opened Las Vegas' newest casino hotel - The Palazzo - also revealed an 83 per cent increase in interest expenses, according to Bloomberg.

Analyst Joel Simkins was quoted by the news provider as saying: "The bottom-line numbers looked disappointing, however, the operating results were fairly solid.

"This is a five-to-ten-year growth story that Las Vegas Sands is executing on and in the interim there are going to be some soft quarters."

Potential for better profits in the future can perhaps be seen in the Venetian Macao, Sands' Macau casino, which took $500.4 million during the quarter.

Macau is the world's largest gambling destination in terms of profit, so it is perhaps not surprising that Sands' operation there accounted for almost half of its quarterly revenue.