GGRAsia – Grand Lisboa Palace US$9mln gaming rev in launch quarter

Grand Lisboa Palace US$9mln gaming rev in launch quarter

Nov 04, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The newly-opened casino (pictured) at Grand Lisboa Palace, the first Cotai presence for Macau gaming operator SJM Holdings Ltd, reported total gaming revenue of HKD69 million (US$8.9 million) for the three months to September 30.

The HKD39 billion property launched on July 30, into a volatile market due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The property did not report any VIP revenue for the period, according to SJM Holdings’ unaudited third-quarter highlights in a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The group had flagged at the opening of the complex that the new table allocation would all be for mass gaming play.

Ambrose So Shu Fai, vice chairman and chief executive of the group, was cited as saying in a press release accompanying the quarterly highlights: “Our operating results for the quarter and year-to-date registered improvements over 2020, although SJM continued to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic that severely interrupted visitor flow to Macau.”

But he added that with the help of the group’s new products at Grand Lisboa Palace, “including a complete array of non-gaming activities, and the talents of our loyal staff, we are confidently poised to participate fully in Macau’s recovery in the coming years”.

Of Grand Lisboa Palace’s mass revenue in its launch quarter, HKD57 million came from mass-market table games, and HKD12 million from slot machines. Mass table drop was HKD358 million, and non-rolling chip win was 15.9 percent.

Gross revenue for Grand Lisboa Palace in the quarter was HKD128 million, including HKD59 million in non-gaming revenue.

After adjusting the pre-opening expenses of HKD300 million, the venue’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were negative by HKD176 million.

Group wide, the third quarter loss widened year-on-year to just under HKD1.25 billion, compared to HKD1.03 billion in the same period of 2020. Accumulated net loss for the nine months to September 30 was HKD2.71 billion, as compared with a loss of HKD2.44 billion in the prior-year period.

“Figures for the loss attributable to owners in 2021 reflect the absorption of pre-opening costs and depreciation of Grand Lisboa Palace and interest expenses,” said the firm.

As at 30 September, the total Grand Lisboa Palace investment cost was HKD37.8 billion, said Thursday’s filing. An aggregate of HKD860 million in pre-opening costs had been accrued for the nine months ended September 30 this year.

SJM Holdings – which also runs Casino Grand Lisboa and the Lisboa casino hotel on Macau peninsula – produced adjusted third-quarter EBITDA that was negative by HKD460 million, a narrowing compared with negative adjusted EBITDA of HKD782 million in the third quarter of 2020.

The margin on adjusted EBITDA in third-quarter 2021 was negative by 19.1 percent, compared to such margin being negative by 89.0 percent in the third quarter last year.

Third-quarter net gaming revenue was just under HKD2.28 billion, as compared with HKD841 million in the three months to September 30, 2020.

Grand Lisboa’s gross revenue in the third quarter of 2021 was HKD651 million, including GGR of HKD607 million and non-gaming revenue of HKD44 million. A year earlier, quarterly GGR had been HKD177 million, and non-gaming revenue had been HKD20 million.

The group had HKD2.80 billion in a combination of cash, bank balances, short-term bank deposits and pledged bank deposits.

SJM Holdings had just under HKD20.41 billion in debt as at September 30. The group added it has a revolving credit facility of HKD10 billion, of which HKD4.9 billion was undrawn as of the end of the third quarter.