Sands China announces unaudited third quarter EBITDA of US$529 million

New York-listed Las Vegas Sands reported third-quarter results yesterday morning which included unaudited financial numbers for its Hong Kong-listed Sands China subsidiary.

For the three-month period ending September, total net revenues for the group’s Macao operations rose 1.8 percent to US$1.9 billion while net income decreased 29.8 percent to US$191 million. 

Property earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at US$529 million, a 12 percent drop from the US$566 million achieved in the third quarter of 2025. Management reiterated its target of reaching US$700 million in quarterly EBITDA.

With Macao’s growth led by the highly competitive premium segment, EBITDA margins contracted to 27.3 percent from 31.5 percent a year ago. Mass revenue market share reached 26.1 percent, an improvement from the 25 percent achieved in the second quarter and its strongest performance since the fourth quarter of 2023.

[See more: CLSA: VIP win rates to drive Macao casino quarterly earnings]

Gambling volumes across all segments rose on an annualised basis. Rolling table volumes jumped 31 percent while non-rolling table volumes gained 11 percent. Slot and electronic table games were up 26 percent.

As of 30 September 2026, Sands China had HK$18.1billion (approximately US$2.3 billion) of available borrowing capacity under its revolving facility.

Over the quarter, the parent company Las Vegas Sands returned over US$1 billion dollars to shareholders via US$950 million in repurchased common stock and US$193 million in dividends. Year to date total return of capital is US$3.1 billion. US$101 million in Sands China shares were also purchased, increasing the group’s ownership to 75.6 percent at the end of September.

Cautious outlook for Macao

Amid last quarter’s 4 percent gross gaming revenue (GGR) decline, investment house CLSA is forecasting property EBITDA for Macao’s six gambling concessionaires to drop 11 percent to US$1.8 billion. But even with anemic top-line numbers, sequential EBITDA margin improvements will likely be driven partly by above-normal VIP rates.

In a research note published earlier this month, gaming analyst Jeffrey Kiang projects EBITDA margins to rise 40 basis points from the previous quarter to 24.6 percent, though will still be below the third quarter of last year, cautioning that the uplift to be short-lived since cost pressures and player rebates continue to persist.

Changing customer profiles are amplifying the challenges, Kiang explained earlier to The Bay. While overnight visitors contracted 2.5 percent to 3.1 million arrivals during July and August months, corresponding GGR per overnight spender eased in line with the slide, underscoring the importance of high-value players to Macao’s gambling industry.

[See more: Macao’s visitor numbers climb in first half of 2026]

Meanwhile, the incremental growth in day trippers has not translated into higher gambling revenues. Despite cumulative arrivals rising 4.5 percent to 8 million arrivals during those two months, GGR per total visitor fell by 7 to 11 percent, highlighting the mismatch between overall visitor volumes and per-visitor play.

On a year-to-date basis, Sands China net revenue increased 7.8 percent to US$5.8 billion while net income dropped 14 percent to $592 million.