Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Las Vegas Sands fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you should require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker for today, Mr. Daniel Briggs. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Joining me on the call today are Rob Goldstein, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Patrick Dumont, our President and Chief Operating Officer. Also joining us on the call are Grant Chum, our Chief Operating Officer of Sands China, and Dr. Wilfred Wong, who are about to get connected. I apologize for starting late. Before I turn the call over to Rob, please let me remind you that today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements that we are making under the Safe Harbor provision of Federal Securities laws. The company's actual results could differ materially from the anticipated results in those forward-looking statements. In addition, we may discuss non-GAAP measures. A definition and a reconciliation of each of these measures to the most comparable GAAP measures is included in the press release.
Please note that we have posted supplementary earnings slides on our earnings press relations website. We may refer to those slides during the Q&A portion of the call. Finally, for those who would like to participate in the Q&A session, we ask that you please respect our request to limit yourself to one question and one follow-up, so we might allow everyone with interest the opportunity to participate. Please note that this presentation is being recorded. With that, let me please turn the call over to Rob.
Thank you, Dan, and good afternoon and good morning to our colleagues in Asia. A very good morning to our colleagues in Asia. Thank you for joining our call today. We'll have some brief comments, and then we'll go right to Q&A. Our results continue to reflect the pandemic's impact. Travel restrictions continued to affect visitation and our financial results in both Macao and Singapore this quarter. We did generate some positive EBITDA for the quarter in both markets. We remain confident in the eventual recovery in both Macao and Singapore. The good news in Singapore is that travel restrictions or travel corridors were established with many important source markets during the quarter. Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia, Thailand were all part of the initial rollout of the VTL program. Obviously, the emergence of the Omicron variant impacted the VTL program in late December.
The VTLs should contribute to a more robust recovery over time. Our confidence in the long-term opportunity in Singapore remains deep, and I'm pleased to announce we've embarked on a $1 billion U.S. renovation project at MBS that will introduce luxurious new suite product into the resort. The program will meaningfully expand our room and suite offerings and significantly enhance our appeal to premium customers. In Macao, The Londoner is near completion. As the market recovers, both the Four Seasons and The Londoner will provide growth opportunities, material growth opportunities in both the premium and mass customer segments. We continue to have the largest footprint in the world's greatest market, Macao, and appreciate the opportunity to provide input in the public consultation process ongoing. We look forward to participating in the re-tendering process as it proceeds to fruition.
Customer demand and spending in Macao have proven resilient at the premium mass level from both a gaming and retail perspective. It's outlined, I think, on pages 29 and 30 in your deck. We continue to have great optimism about our ability to perform to pre-pandemic levels once visitation returns. You may know our company is divided primarily into three material areas, the most important being Asia, the portfolio in Macao and Singapore. We remain confident we'll return to strong positive cash flow in both Macao and Singapore in the future as restrictions are eased and travel and tourism recover. The sale of Las Vegas creates liquidity and optionality as we pursue additional large-scale land-based destination resorts in the U.S. and Asia. We continue to build our digital presence. We're exploring multiple opportunities at this time, and we'll provide some color at the appropriate time.
Let's go to your questions, and thank you for listening.
Ladies and gentlemen, just as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star and then the number one on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from the line of Joe Greff with JP Morgan.
Good afternoon, good morning, everyone.
Hi, Joe.
Rob, Patrick, let's start off on the topic of capital return and how you're thinking about that, particularly in light of, you know, $5 billion in gross cash proceeds coming in in a couple of months. Does that, you know, cause you to rethink that capital return is more of a near-term event, or do you really need to see a recovery in both Macao and Singapore before you initiate some sort of capital return? I know you mentioned liquidity optionality for new jurisdictions in the U.S. and Asia, so I mean, that's part of the calculus. But if you can refresh your thinking on capital return, I think that'd be helpful for us.
Patrick?
I'm happy to. Yeah. Hey, Joe. Appreciate the question. You know, I think we've been pretty consistent in our thinking. It's been part of our long-term strategic plan, how to create additional capacity to really grow this business. You know, Sheldon has really started from the beginning, as you know, you followed us since day one, that he's really been a developer of large scale projects. I think that ethos continues today within our company. I think we're very excited about some of the opportunities that we have in front of us. Rob and the rest of the development team and our entire group has been working very hard to create opportunities to grow with large scale development in the future.
I think the way we see the capital that's gonna come into our system from the consummation of the Vegas sale is really to grow the business.
As we've always said before, the dividend and share repurchases really do represent part of our shareholder return strategy, the dividend being the cornerstone. We're looking forward to the opportunity of restarting the dividend program. As we've said, I think we've been consistent about the idea that we really wanna see a steady return to operational cash flow, understanding what those cash flow levels are from a trajectory and call it a sensitivity scenario perspective, and then make an assessment about the proper return of capital at that time. You know, we really view the dividend as something that needs to return on a stable and long-term basis. That's something that we'll look to do when our cash flows return, and we get out of pandemic operations, which unfortunately during this quarter we were still in.
Great. That's helpful. Maybe the gentleman from Macao can chime in on my follow-up question. Just a clarification on the draft bill on the amendments to the gaming law. Can you talk about, you know, how the government's thinking about you and others in the market maintaining specific levels of gross gaming revenues in order to maintain your table count? Can you talk about how they're broadly or specifically thinking how this will work and what the broad framework is here? That's it for me. Thanks.
Grant, you there?
Yes, sure. Thank you for the question. I think the amendment to the gaming law is still a work in progress. It's working its way through the legislature. We need to wait for further details in terms of the final form that the amendments would take. There will be additional regulatory measures that will be potentially issued thereafter. In general, to your question, we've always efficiently used our table allocation. In general, we welcome the direction of linking table allocation with productivity. Specifics I think are yet to be outlined.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank.
Hey, guys. Thank you.
Carlo.
Rob, maybe if you could kind of shine some light. I know Singapore, obviously it was kind of a tale of a couple months. As you see things starting to normalize over the course of the period, could you comment a little bit about, you know, how you felt during the better periods of the quarter as it pertained to restrictions and stuff like that when some of them were more loose?
Yeah. We were very, very excited to see when there's rays of light and you can get in and the VTL is established. It was extraordinary. I think it indicates it's a real predictor, Carlo, what's gonna happen when that place opens back up. Hopefully, you know, we see it in the first half of the year. Clearly, demand is gonna be there. The VTLs, the government's thinking is very positive for us. I think Singapore probably gets there quicker than I think Macao might be later. Citing Singapore, the demand is clearly evident when the VTLs were open. It's a shame. I think we had a real positive momentum going, and they got crushed by the Omicron concerns. I think that's just inevitable.
The markets around us, I mean, the important source markets are opening up. Japan, you know, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, all improving. We have a lot of hope to see a big bounce in Singapore. I would like to reference, we had some non-recurring income in that quarter you should be aware of. Patrick, can you illuminate just so we're clear on the numbers on the Singapore quarter?
Happy to do it. Carlo, thanks for the question. One thing we did want to highlight is that we were positively impacted by approximately $70 million of non-recurring items during this quarter, including bonus reversals, Jobs Support Scheme, and some other items. I wouldn't look at this as a run rate quarter. I think I would point you back to some of the comments that Rob made on some of our prior calls about that run rate envelope during these conditions. We call it the $500 million run rate EBITDA context. The real problem is things have kind of been switched on and switched off so much, it's hard to get a real read on the quarter.
I think what is really encouraging is the vaccine travel lanes, you know, the public health posture of the government, which really has been a leader in both vaccinations and the way they approach public health. We're very encouraged about their approach towards long-term tourism. We're very excited to see how that plays out in the upcoming quarters. I think, you know, overall, the vaccine travel lanes were a big step.
Great, Patrick. Thank you. That's helpful. Just one point of clarity, that $70 million, was that all in the EBITDA result for the quarter?
It was. That's why I referred back to the run rate that we talked about previously.
Yep. Thank you. Thank you both.
We've referenced, you know, $500,000,000 run rate. Until things get better over there, until these travel lanes become real, we're still in the same range as our point, not to get overexuberant about the one $70 million that it was. It is impacted by non-recurring. Okay?
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Robin Farley with UBS.
Great. Thanks for taking the question. I was wondering if you could talk about, you've said for a while you're evaluating online gaming and sports betting options, and there's been a little bit of a change in valuation over the last year. Can you talk a little bit about how kind of what your current thoughts are and how that may be impacted by changing valuations?
Yeah. I think we've said in the past, we've always been interested in digital and all these interests, you know, that's happening in the market. Two things are happening at the same time. Our business, I think, is coming back to a stronger place. I think 2022 finally, especially in Singapore, and I think as well Macao will see that getting better. Our balance sheet speaks for itself, and we've all followed what's happening with digital equities and the struggle there. I believe there'll be a day when sports betting and iGaming are very successful businesses, and we'll continue to look at the opportunity. We'll wait patiently. Hasn't been a bad idea to wait the last six to eight months to see how this shakes out, and there's been a lot of blood spilled.
I think we'll continue to evaluate is there an entry point that makes sense for LVS. We remain consistent, Robin, as you know, we've known for years. Our bread and butter is still gonna be Asia land-based is what will make. You can't replicate a $5 billion business, which we think will come back in place in the next year or so. So that's our first order of business and making sure our balance sheet is pristine, which now will be following closing. We'll continue to monitor as the difficulties continue, the equity markets and the valuations change. The question is when does that situation get better? I think it will, and is there an entry point for us? We'll keep our eyes and ears open for that possibility.
Waiting hasn't been the worst idea to see how things shake out.
No, definitely not. Also, a follow-up question is, can you remind us what your kind of latest thinking is on the size of the investment when you go to rebid for the new license term? You know, at times you've talked about things in the past. Obviously, you know, you're looking forward to investing more in Macao. Can you kind of remind us what your latest thoughts are on the size of that? Thanks.
I'm not sure I understand. Patrick, I may have been missing it. I don't think we have. I mean, we continue to be very bullish on Macao market despite the last 24 difficult months. We like what we're seeing in the retendering process. We're respectful of the process. We're continuing to help and be involved with the government. I don't think we have a dollar amount in mind or a specific approach at this time. Patrick or Grant, do you wanna chime in?
Yeah. I'll just say one comment, and then I'll turn over to Grant. I think the important thing to know is it's still very early stages yet, so I don't think there's any details that we can really talk about in terms of our approach, because it's not known sort of where things are gonna shake out. Grant, I don't know if you have any other comments that you wanna add.
No, I think that's right. I think we just reiterate our general approach, which is continued reinvestment in our asset base. It's worth reminding ourselves we're coming to the end of our $2.3 billion CapEx program in Grand Suites at Four Seasons in The Londoner Macao. We've really stayed the course during the pandemic. We've accelerated the works where we can. We've overcome all the challenges related to supply chain during this pandemic. We're coming well within budget, and we're delighted with the outcome.
I think that gives you a pretty good indicator both of our appetite but also of our resolve to continue to reinvest in particular in the direction that the government is pointing towards across the various domains of diversification.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Robin.
Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Grambling with Goldman Sachs.
Hi, thanks. I guess two follow-ups, and the first is really a follow-up on Robin's question and Joe's earlier question just on the legislative proposal. You mentioned it is still a work in progress, obviously, but I'm wondering if you could just walk us through where you feel like you do have incremental clarity and where specifically there may still be pockets of uncertainty based on the language in your conversations.
Grant, that's yours.
Thank you for the question. I think the key aspects of the legislation have been laid out in terms of the number of concessionaires and the duration of the future concession. There are a lot of details in there that are still going to be worked out through the legislature. We've just successfully gone through the first reading with the Legislative Assembly, and we're now moving to the committee stage. I think we can say at this point that it is still in draft form, but we really welcome the progress that's been made in issuing so rapidly since the launch of the first public consultation in September.
It's only been a short four months since that time, and we're already at the stage where we're going into the committee review of the draft. I think, you know, the government has done an outstanding job in getting us to this stage of the process so quickly, with a lot of the framework being clarified. You know, it is important to remember that this is still draft legislation. We await the final outcome, hopefully in the coming months.
Fair enough. Maybe as an unrelated follow-up here, you continue to have impressive cost control despite a pretty difficult environment. How are you thinking about margins and labor inflation in Macao as well as Singapore as we think about an ultimate recovery versus maybe some of the cost reductions you've made?
Hey, it's Patrick. You know, it's something that we look at a lot with our team. I think one of the focuses that we had during this pandemic over these last really two years has been to keep the core team together, so that when we do recover, we have the ability to service our customers and get right back to business. I think it's a credit to Grant, to the team in Singapore and really to everyone at the local teams that we're able to keep the group together, continue to focus, continue working and keep everyone healthy and safe. I think where we are today, as we look at margins upon the recovery, we run a pretty efficient business, both at Sands China and in Singapore prior to the pandemic.
If you look at our margins in the years leading up to the pandemic, Sands China team did an unbelievable job taking a lot of costs out of the business and becoming more efficient, you know, as we grew our business there. I think if you look over a series of years, we've always been cost-focused. I don't wanna say that there was really room in the prior operating level. What is true is that I'd like to believe that the run rate margins for the business will be consistent with those margins prior to the pandemic. The one thing to note is that in Singapore, there is going to be a gaming tax rate change, which will impact margins at Marina Bay Sands, when that happens.
There'll be some slight margin impact from that going forward. As a practical matter, we would expect to have the same margins, given the same level of volumes, even taking into account mix. Because if you recall in Macao, our exposure to lower margin business, such as junket and VIP is less. We're more premium mass focused, so we'd like to believe our margin structure will be fairly consistent upon the recovery.
Helpful. Thanks so much.
Your next question comes from the line of Thomas Allen with Morgan Stanley.
Hey, thanks. Can you just talk about potential future investments? I know that you've been looking at Florida and New York. Any comments on those markets? Wynn announced a project in UAE yesterday. Have you considered that market? Thank you.
I'll take the U.S., and I'll leave Patrick to discuss the UAE. Thomas, you know, we've been for years talking about, maybe before your time, it's been so long, New York. We're big believers in that market. The recent announcement by Governor Hochul about three licenses is encouraging. We're in the hunt. I wouldn't wanna overplay our hand and say we have a what our opportunity might be, but it's a massive market, underserved by the current product. By any metric, that should be a massive market for us. We're deep into it. We were there last week. We have a team on the ground working through it, and we're hoping to get a license. That's all I'll say about that. You followed in the newspapers our efforts in Florida.
We're in a signature gathering mode. It's a struggle down there. It's not an easy process to go through, but we're trying very much to be in the hunt in Florida. We really appreciate how underserved that market is and the material opportunities exist for a top-tier land-based opportunity in Florida would be wonderful. Same goes for Texas, although Texas is a few years away from it. We have been down there. We have spent time in the market. We have people trying to find our place in that market if it does happen, but I think that's probably the farthest away from a decision. Patrick, you wanna address the Wynn situation, the UAE, what happened over there yesterday?
Sure. Happy to. A couple of thoughts. First off, as someone who's in the tourism business, you know, our company is very focused on looking at markets, evaluating them and, you know, what different markets present in terms of both competition and things our customers like. I will tell you, if you know, if you go to UAE and you see the investments that are going on there, it's really remarkable. The scale of investment, the quality of investment is really unique to the world. It's a very special place, and I understand why Wynn would have interest going there. It is a tremendous tourism market, has a lot of potential. You know, to be fair, it is an economic center for that region.
In terms of opportunity, we all understood why there would be interest there for them to go. It's something that we'll continue to watch and look at. There are a lot of high-quality markets that are available to our company. Rob just referenced a few. We're gonna keep all of our options open and continue looking for opportunities for Las Vegas Sands to deploy capital in high-quality developments. That's really sort of our view on that situation.
Perfect. Thank you both. Then just on the MBS billion-dollar renovation, it's something you guys have been talking about for a long time, but you just added to your slide deck this quarter. Is that just because now it's ready? Any more details on the potential disruption or timeline? Thank you.
Yeah, well, it's in the stack of this moving forward. I think the point we've talked about for a long time, Thomas, we have underinvested at times in those rooms and suites. We're deep into the renovation. I think we all know with the COVID environment, you always have the risk of either labor or supply chain risk. They're moving nicely and the team. We have not been there, so we, I can't say we've seen it, but the images we see are very positive, and I think it's moving at a really good pace, assuming that there's not interruptions we can't control. Patrick?
I think what's interesting about it, and you've heard Rob reference it before, and I think our team is very focused in using this time during the pandemic to enhance our product offerings and our attractiveness to our customers. You know, we've always been working with the Singapore Tourism Board to help achieve their goals while we invest. I think there's been a focus in Singapore over the last few years on increasing high-quality tourism. You know, we believe MBS is a leader in that area, and we wanted to reinvest in the property to really enhance our suite product and some of the other amenities that we have for our customers while we have some downtime. This is something that we've been looking at for many years.
We have a high-quality design team that will really create some of the best suites we've ever had in our system. We've had some great success with some of our efforts in Macao in some renovations and some of the new product we brought online during the pandemic. We feel like our design level is really at a high level now, and we're really looking forward to investing this amount of capital into Marina Bay Sands to create a level of suite product we never had there before, both in terms of count and in terms of quality. This will address some of the goals that have been laid out by the Singapore Tourism Board and the government there, as well as help us address and grow our business in high-value tourism. That's really the objective.
It's something that'll happen really over the next two years. We're underway now, and we hope to be complete, you know, as soon as possible. In reality, due to labor and materials, it looks like it's gonna take the two years.
Helpful. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Shaun Kelley with Bank of America.
Hi, good afternoon and good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. You know, maybe just one, because it actually hasn't come up. I guess it's a sign of the times, really, that, you know, I was just wondering from either Grant or Wilfred if we could get a little color just on, you know, the COVID conditions and signaling on the ground in terms of possible reopening milestones you might be looking for. You know, I believe there was actually a little bit of press from the government talking about, you know, the tourism industry and its importance. Maybe just a couple of your high-level thoughts about, you know, things we could look forward to there.
Sure. Thanks for the question, Shaun. I think in the last few months, if you could describe it sequentially, we've come through some local cases on COVID that occurred in Macao at the end of September to early October. So obviously, the business environment was heavily impacted during the month of October. In fact, that was the lowest month in the entire year for the GGR for the city. As we moved towards the end of the year, things improved in terms of the travel border policies around Zhuhai and Macao. And then you saw the business volumes and visitations pick up accordingly. Most recently, we've had some local cases in Zhuhai, which has impacted the border again.
Hopefully we're gonna be coming through the other side of that, as they get that under control and as they have done. I would describe it as not a lot has changed in terms of the overall environment. The government, both Central Government and local government, continue to control the COVID cases exceptionally well, in accordance with their policies. As we move forward, we obviously have Chinese New Year and also the Winter Olympics. Understandably, everyone is being cautious in terms of traveling.
Obviously, it's possible that beyond these events, as things improve in terms of the domestic cases in the various provinces and these big events are out of the way, we can look forward to a more positive picture in terms of travel.
Great. Thank you. Just one, probably for Patrick. Patrick, you mentioned the Singapore tax rate, and I think we picked that up in some of the local press as well. I was just curious if you could give us a little bit more color on how that plays through. Is this the change that was actually tied back to the license extension, or is this something that's incremental or different from that? Because I think there was a tie-in to that, if I recall correctly. It's frankly been a couple of years.
Yeah. It's just been a couple of years. This is the implementation of what was tied into the development agreement. Nothing's changed consistent with prior disclosure or prior discussions, but just wanted to highlight it as something that may have an impact on margins going forward. That's all.
Great. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Dan Politzer with Wells Fargo.
Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. A quick follow-up on just the sports betting and iGaming, you know, endeavors or, you know, analysis that you're doing. Have you given any thought or consideration to opportunities that would involve, you know, markets outside the U.S., such as Europe? Are you really just focused on U.S. sports betting at this point?
We consider all markets. Yeah.
Yeah, I think.
All markets are on the table.
Yeah. I think one thing to highlight.
Okay.
Yeah, sorry. One thing to highlight. I think we're not just looking at sports betting. I think we're looking at a variety of different opportunities in the digital space and to Rob's point, in a variety of different markets. We're not rushed. We're building teams, we're making long-term investments. We're thinking about opportunities. We're focused on return on invested capital, and we're really looking on it through the lens of long-term strategy that can blossom into something you know, meaningful. We're not just sort of chasing certain specific areas that may have valuations that are peaked at the day. I think we're looking for long-term high growth opportunities that present really positive returns.
It's not just in sports wagering, it's a variety of different things, and we're looking at different markets.
Got it. Just a clarification on the capital allocation question from earlier. As you think about a repurchase versus the dividend, I mean, do you really need to see a more sustained recovery in Macao before returning capital? Is there a scenario where you get, you know, the proceeds from The Venetian sale and Singapore starts to recover and you could be more active on that front beforehand?
You know, I think from our standpoint, we sort of view return of capital for a very long-term shareholder enhancing process. I think for us, we're gonna wanna see a return in our markets with a stable level of cash flow and post-pandemic conditions where there's operational clarity before we begin return of capital. I think it's very important for the sustainability of any dividend and any return of capital program. It's something that we hope will come soon. There's been a lot of investment in public health initiatives and a lot of things that are incrementally making progress in both of our markets, and we're hopeful that this occurs in the near term.
Once that happens, we'll start to evaluate potential for return of capital. Again, we sort of view the proceeds from the Las Vegas sale as permitting us to develop large-scale destination resorts in new jurisdictions to help grow our business.
Got it. Understood. Thanks so much.
Your last question comes from the line of David Katz with Jefferies.
Let me just-- unmuting myself.
David, your line is open.
Afternoon, thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to, if I may, follow up on two of the details from earlier where you talked about the $70 million, and that sounds like it's in the EBITDA line. Is that solely in Macao? Is that spread, does that include, you know, Singapore?
It's just Singapore.
As well?
It's just in Singapore.
Roughly the same for the $500 million run rate, which is Macao. That is excluding what may or may not have occurred with respect to Omicron in January, correct?
No. I think, David, you're mixing apples and oranges. I think first of all, the 70% reference was solely at MBS. My $500,000,000 reference was from previous calls I said, I think the current situation, which runs up and down every day. I think Singapore today is a $500,000,000 EBITDA annual run rate until we get further VTL and stabilization. My point is I wanna make sure we're running that same half billion. We have a lot of optimism that that will change this in 2022, perhaps first half. That's all Singapore related, the one time-
Got it.
non-recurrent. That $500 million was referred to Singapore as well. We're not making any. It's impossible in Macao to rationally predict anything until the government makes decisions on the visitation. It'd be silly for us to speculate on something that's so speculative. You can have no underpinning of fact. We believe that market will explode when it opens back up again. I think it's more the second half of the year. But then again, you know, who's to know? We're not making any speculative decisions on a run rate in Macao.
Understood. If I can just follow up very quickly. With respect to the makeup of business in Macao, not looking for a guide or a range, but any insight.
Yeah.
Around how, you know, VIP business which may go away could be recaptured through premium mass. You know, any tools or thoughts or perspectives to help us think about what portion of that could be, would be really helpful.
Yeah. I'll just give you mine. Quick look. I want Grant to opine as well. I think we all believe that the junket... Having done this for many years in Macao, in the U.S., these customers in that segment aren't gonna just disappear and when they read, "Oh, the junket business is not happening, therefore demand will go away." It's not gonna go away. It'll just resurrect in different segments and find new ways of materializing in the casino. It always is that way in any business. You know, it goes back to any segment doesn't necessarily just go away because the mechanism goes away. It just evolves with different segmentation. We're pretty bullish that a business that was yielding, you know, 8%-10% could be much more positively profitable as it resurrects other segments.
That's my take. I think any belief that the junket business, that whole segment goes away, is just not thoughtful. Grant, can you weigh in?
Sure. Yeah. I think Rob is spot on on that because you have to distinguish between the end demand and the distribution of it. I think clearly some portion of that end demand, and we're not gonna get drawn into exactly what proportion, will shift into the other segments. That's just natural because the end demand is there. Now did some portion of it also dissipate and disappear? Sure. That's probably the portion that was not in the first place that sustainable in any event. I think the core underlying end demand that will find its way through other segments over time. We should distinguish between the end customer as opposed to the distribution system.
Perfect. Thank you very much for taking my questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your participation today. This does conclude the Las Vegas Sands fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect.