Tracy, Sisk picked for Sands China

Sands China, which manages The Venetian Macau, appointed Edward Tracy as president and David Sisk as executive vice president. Both will assume office on August 10

As Macau Daily Times (MDT) revealed on Monday, Sands China has appointed two new executives: president and chief operating officer Edward Tracy and executive vice president and chief casino officer David Sisk. Both officials will officially assume their titles on August 10.
“These positions were opened for six months, but we were unable to hire them until very recently,” Sands China acting chief executive officer Michael Leven told MDT. “Both senior executives are very experienced and competent, and they will be very helpful to the company,” he stressed, last Saturday.
According to a statement released yesterday, the new president and chief operating officer has “over 20 years of hands on management and development experience” in the gaming and hospitality industry. Tracy served as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Capital Gaming, which managed Native American and riverboat casinos in the US. Later on he was the CEO of the Trump Organisation, owned by the American magnate Donald Trump.

Investment firm Jefferies and JP Morgan picked Sands as the gaming company with the best prospects

The statement adds that the new executive vice president and chief casino officer, Sisk, is “a veteran casino financial and operations executive with over 18 years of experience” in casino development. Before joining Sands China, David Sisk worked at Caesars Palace and was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore. He played “an instrumental role in establishing the management and financial structure” for Wynn Las Vegas and Encore resorts, in the US.
“In the past months, the Sands China team has been through some tough challenges,” Michael Leven recognised yesterday. The company’s CEO and president Steven Jacobs, was fired last Friday, with no reason given for his termination.
He was “hired for a specific job, with a specific task in hand regarding our operation in Macau,” Leven told MDT on Saturday. “The needs of leadership and management are different now. We need a different skill set for what needs to be done from now on,” Sands China acting CEO explained.
Yesterday Leven stressed this same view: “As Sands China enters a new era of growth, the demand of great leadership is paramount to take the company to the next level.” Meanwhile the local gaming operator has already started looking for a new CEO.

Analysts upbeat on earnings

Las Vegas Sands is expected to post earnings of USD 0.09 per share on its financial results for the second quarter of this year, to be released tonight (Macau time). According to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, Sheldon Adelson’s company will reach USD 1.6 billion (MOP 12.5 billion) in revenue.
It would represent a huge improvement for the corporation, which operates Sands casino and The Venetian resort in Macau through its subsidiary Sands China. A year earlier Las Vegas Sands had an operating profit of USD 0.01 a share, its first period in the black in two years, on a record USD 1.06 billion (MOP 8.3 billion) revenue.
Investment firm Jefferies and JP Morgan picked Sands as the gaming company with the best prospects. Jefferies sees “huge potential for growth”, namely from the licensing agreement with Playboy to open a 12,000 square feet Playboy Club Macau by the end of the year.
Furthermore, JP Morgan analysts raised earnings per share estimates for Sands for both 2010 and 2011. This year the gaming operator is expected to post a profit of USD 0.47 per share, up from USD 0.27, with Macau being cited as one of the catalysts for “modest year-over-year growth.” The forecast for next year got a boost from USD 0.47 to 0.61.
Las Vegas Sands closed Monday’s New York stock session on a 0.51 percent rise to USD 25.67, even before the company announced the appointment of two senior executives for Sands China. Investors did not seem to share analysts’ concerns over the dismissal of Steve Jacobs. In a note to clients, JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff spoke of “perceived continued management strife and the fact that most investors believe that Steve [Jacobs] was doing a solid job in managing costs, growing mass and direct VIP share, and working on the redevelopment of sites 5 and 6” in Cotai.
The company’s financial results will be released at 8 am New York time (8 pm in Macau). One hour later, Melco Crown will also post its earnings for the second quarter of this year but analysts are not very confident on Lawrence Ho’s joint venture. Credit Suisse’s latest Macau gaming report points to the company’s “relatively weak operating performance”.
In the first quarter, despite the opening of City of Dreams, Melco recorded a loss of USD 12.5 million (MOP 98 million), USD 0.02 per share. However, the new Cotai resort did help the company boost its revenue to USD 567.6 million (MOP 4.45 billion).
On Thursday (New York time, Friday in Macau), it will be Wynn Resorts who will hit the spotlight: analysts predict earnings of USD 0.42 a share on revenue of USD 991 million.

V.Q.