Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS)
Q2 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
July 30, 2009 4:30 p.m. ET

Executives

Daniel Briggs – Vice President of Investor Relations
Sheldon G. Adelson – Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & Treasurer
Michael A. Leven – President, Director & Chief Operating Officer
Robert G. Goldstein – Executive Vice President & President of Venetian Casino Resort, LLC
Kenneth J. Kay – Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Analysts

Joseph Greff – JPMorgan
Janet Brashear – Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Cameron McKnight – Buckingham Financial Group
Steven Kent – Goldman Sachs
Dennis Forst – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Lawrence Klatzkin – Jefferies & Co.
Rachael Rothman – Wedbush Morgan Securities

Presentation

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Michael and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation second quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers'' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. Thank you.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Daniel Briggs, Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

Daniel Briggs

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On the call with me today are Mr. Sheldon G. Adelson, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Leven, our President and Chief Operating Officer, Rob Goldstein, Executive Vice President and President of The Venetian Las Vegas and The Palazzo, and Ken Kay, our Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I need to remind you that today’s conference call contains forward-looking statements that we are making under the Safe Harbor provisions of Federal Securities Laws. I would also like to caution you that the company’s actual results could differ materially from the anticipated results in those forward-looking statements. Please see today’s press release under the caption “Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of risks that may affect our results.

In addition, we may discuss adjusted EDITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, and adjusted property EBITDAR, which are non-GAAP measures. A definition and a reconciliation of each of those measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the press release. Please note that this presentation is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Mr. Adelson.

Sheldon G. Adelson

Thanks, Dan, and thank you all for joining us today.

I want to begin the call today by making a couple of interesting points, a couple of very important points. First of all, there is no doubt that the operating environment in both Las Vegas and Macao remains challenging. Our properties are holding up quite well. People are continuing to visit our properties in great numbers and we''re generating solid cash flow from a diverse set of revenue streams in both markets. The implementation of our cost savings program has enabled us to significantly enhance cash flow generation and has positioned us to deliver greater operating margins when the economy eventually recovers.

As we have stated in the past, we are continuing to advance five or six different options to increase our liquidity. We look forward to updating you about this in the near future. And finally, the management team here is the right team to execute our plan. I''m extremely pleased that Rob has now formally extended his contract with us and will be an important member of our management team in the years ahead. In addition, Mike is implementing additional leadership in Asia to adapt, and strength to our management team there.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Mike and he''ll tell you more.

Michael A. Leven