Sands to open The Parisian in Macau on Sept. 13

Las Vegas Sands Corp. will open The Parisian, a resort embellished with a half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower, in Macau on Sept. 13, the company said Monday in its earnings call with investors.

Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson revealed the opening date and new details about the $2.9 billion, 3,000-room resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip before telling investors that second-quarter earnings dipped 32.2 percent to $394.4 million, 41 cents a share, compared with $581.5 million, 59 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue fell 9.3 percent to $2.65 billion for the quarter that ended June 30 compared with $2.92 billion a year ago.

Most of the decline was attributed to the company’s performance in the Chinese enclave, where Sands generates more than half of its cash flow. Nevertheless, the company was encouraged that its Macau operation in June showed its first monthly year-over-year performance increase since September 2014.

Shares rose as much as 4 percent in after-hours trading.

With the opening of The Parisian, Sands will have 13,000 rooms and four interconnected resorts in Macau with four performance centers, 2 million square feet of convention space and an arena.

“It is one of the most beautifully decorated public spaces for any hotel in the world,” Adelson said of The Parisian at the conclusion of the conference call. “It is really, really magnificent and is going to be a high-demand hotel.”

One potential downside is that another major resort — Steve Wynn’s Wynn Palace — will open three weeks earlier than The Parisian Macau on Aug. 22.

Adelson said he thinks the opening of Wynn Palace will be beneficial to both properties.

“It’s just a 20-minute walk from the Venetian (Macau) to the Wynn (Palace),” Adelson said. “So we’re hoping he’ll do very well.”

Chief Operating Officer Rob Goldstein said he believes visitors will flock to both properties the same way people traveled to Las Vegas to see new resorts that opened on the Strip in the late 1990s.

Other highlights from the conference call:

■ Adelson said the company will continue its dividend policy, 10.8 percent higher than a year ago, currently returning $2.88 a share per year with a quarterly 78-cents-a-share dividend payable Sept. 30.

■ Goldstein said plans are moving ahead for the company’s 17,500-seat, 400,000-square-foot Las Vegas concert hall. Sands is collaborating with The Madison Square Garden Co., Azoff MSG Entertainment, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Oak View Group to build it. He said ground is expected to be broken at Sands Avenue between Koval Lane and Manhattan Street in early 2017 with the facility opening about 18 months later, in late 2018 or early 2019.

■ Sands’ Las Vegas properties, The Venetian and Palazzo, had a 95 percent occupancy rate for the quarter and the average daily room rate was up 3.9 percent to $240.

■ Net revenue climbed 3 percent for the company’s Las Vegas properties to $356.5 million for the quarter.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta