Robert Goldstein - Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Analyst · JPMorgan. Joe, your line is now open.
I'll start with Las Vegas. Joe, our approach in Las Vegas, we're seeing a better gaming environment, but I think it's still dwarfed by the power of the lodging story in Las Vegas. I'm not going to say there's not a pick-up here and there, but I don't think it's broad-based and I don't think it's that impactful. We're still in Las Vegas experiencing nice. We had a great quarter. We made some money in the VIP segment, obviously Chinese New Year's. We certainly made money in the slot business, but our focus in Las Vegas remains or our concentration to profit remains on the lodging side. We had a tremendous – we're back to – if I made it back to 2008 or 2007 in terms of ADR and RevPAR. So, yes, there's a lift, but I wouldn't consider it material at this point into Las Vegas from China. MBS, I've got to take a minute to just recognize how strong I feel about the performance there. I think it's extraordinary that we did $388 million normalized without having a strong VIP business over there. Frankly, what's really compelling about MBS is this is a product that it's a benchmark product for all new jurisdictions to look at, both aesthetically and from an operating perspective. In a rather difficult environment because of the downturn at GGR, headwinds from the currency perspective, I think MBS is just extraordinary to have a run rate of $1.4 billion, $1.5 billion, maybe better, to be the shining star in the development world and operational side of our business. I'm very proud of our results there, but no, it's not driven by VIP out of mainland China. The diversification, geographic diversification of MBS is just compelling. We deal with a lot more business coming out of Malaysia and Indonesia, Korea, Japan. In fact, I think last time I looked, the contribution from China fell to 20%, which is both terrific in one regard and also it might make for a good story when VIP reemerges into MBS. But you have to take a look at MBS and be – I'm very proud of our results there. $388 million normalized, $1.4 billion, $1.5 billion, $1.6 billion. A great mall sale on the horizon. It's just a great business over there. We lead the market in ADR. We're 70% of the EBITDA composite goes to MBS, and so I think it's just a great story all these years later. And it's not really being helped that much by VIP at China from both a rolling or non-rolling perspective. So that's the story as far as how we see MBS and Las Vegas.