Sands, which operates the Palazzo and Venetian resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and has two casinos in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, said it remains focused on boosting cashflow, trimming debt and cutting costs. Shares rose 4 per cent in extended trading.

'The numbers clearly reflect the challenging conditions, but they weren't as bad as they could have been,' said Robert LaFleur, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial.

Operating income fell 81 per cent to US$14.6 million (S$21.97 million) in Las Vegas, 39 per cent to $38.7 million at Sands Macao and 13 per cent to $61.3 million at the Venetian Macao.

The company, which has come close to violating its loan agreements and has suspended work on several projects, said it still is looking to sell non-core assets, including retail malls in Macau.

'It's going to be a struggle for them,' Mr LaFleur said.

'People are going to be on pins and needles for several more quarters.' Sheldon Adelson, the company's billionaire chief executive, last year injected $1 billion of his own money into Sands so that it would avoid defaulting on debt.

The Las Vegas-based company said on Wednesday it raised its annual cost savings target to US$250 million.

Sands posted a net loss of US$111.3 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with net profit of US$39.9 million, or 11 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported a net loss of 4 cents a share, short of the average analyst estimate for adjusted profit of 3 cents a share, as compiled by Reuters Estimates.

It posted noncash impairment charges of US$37.6 million, mainly related to assets and development activities in Asia.

Net revenue rose 4.3 per cent to US$1.09 billion, but below the average Wall Street estimate of US$1.18 billion.

The company expects to open a new casino resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in late May or early June, and said construction of its under-construction Singapore resort should open between December 2009 and January 2010.

Shares of Sands, which have plunged nearly 96 percent over the past year, closed up 6.1 per cent at US$3.98 on the New York Stock Exchange before the earnings report. They traded at US$4.14 after hours. -- THOMSON RETUERS