Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd was back in the black – just – for full-year 2024, after a HKD2.01-billion loss (US$258.5-million at current rates) for 2023.
In a Tuesday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the group said its 2024 profit attributable to its owners was HKD3.2 million.
The company’s main venues are Grand Lisboa, a casino hotel on Macau’s peninsula, and Grand Lisboa Palace (pictured) in the Cotai district.
Group net gaming revenue for the 12 months was nearly HKD26.85 billion, up 33.8 percent year-on-year.
Hotel, catering, retail, leasing and related services income rose 22.9 percent, to just over HKD1.92 billion.
Full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were HKD3.76 billion, an increase of 117.9 percent from a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 13.1 percent last year, up from 8.0 percent in 2023.
The board did not recommend any payment of final dividend for the year to December 31.
A separate release on Tuesday cited SJM Holdings’ chairman, Daisy Ho Chiu Fung, as saying: “We are pleased to report a solid year for SJM, marking a significant inflection point as we return to profitability for the first time since the pandemic.”
She added: “This achievement reflects our disciplined execution, operational efficiencies, and commitment to long-term sustainable growth.”
SJM Holdings said that – as of the reporting period – it had a 13.1 percent share of Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR), including 15.8 percent of mass-market table GGR, and 5.1 percent of VIP GGR.
Grand Lisboa Palace’s gross revenue in the 12 months was HKD6.58 billion, including GGR of nearly HKD5.24 billion and non-gaming revenue of circa HKD1.34 billion.
The Cotai complex’s adjusted property EBITDA was HKD499 million, compared with a negative figure of HKD317 million in 2023.
Grand Lisboa’s gross revenue was nearly HKD7.84 billion, including nearly HKD7.55 billion in GGR, and non-gaming revenue of HKD291 million. The venue’s adjusted property EBITDA was HKD2.09 billion in 2024, compared with nearly HKD1.33 billion in the previous year.
SJM Holdings had just under HKD3.22 billion in cash, bank balances, short-term bank deposits and pledged bank deposits as of December 31, and just under HKD26.46 billion of debt.
SJM Holdings’ syndicated banking facilities consisted of a HKD9-billion term loan and HKD10-billion in revolving credit, of which HKD4.4 billion was undrawn as of year-end.
On Tuesday, SJM Holdings also gave an update on a relationship with a satellite casino business.
It said that Tin Hou Ltd, a Macau-registered company that is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Emperor Entertainment Hotel Ltd, had moved to “connected” status with SJM Holdings, under Hong Kong bourse rules.
That was because a stake of over 50 percent in Tin Hou is “indirectly controlled by a private discretionary trust” set up by a family member of a director of certain subsidiaries of SJM Holdings.
Tin Hou provides services and space to SJM Resorts Ltd – the gaming operations business of SJM Holdings – in relation to the casino at the Grand Emperor Hotel in downtown Macau.
A three-year grace period – for Macau satellite venues to move either to a management fee model, or be absorbed into the business of the gaming concessionaire that provides their licence – ends this year.
