GGRAsia – SJM flags US$994mln 2022 loss on impairment charge

SJM flags US$994mln 2022 loss on impairment charge

Mar 07, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd says it expects to record a loss attributable to its owners of approximately HKD7.80 billion (US$993.7 million) for full-year 2022, including an impairment charge related to a “reassessment and rationalisation” of the group’s “core” casino business. The information was disclosed in a Monday filing to the Hong Kong bourse.

The company reported a net loss of just above HKD4.14 billion for 2021.

In its latest filing, SJM Holdings said it has made an impairment charge of just under HKD1.21 billion, including the amount, as of December 31, “of the carrying value of the cost of refurbishments made to the Jai Alai building over a number of years”.

The amount also included an impairment charge of approximately HKD4.7 million “relating to the closure of five third-party owned casinos and two self-promoted casinos at the end of December 2022”.

The casino firm renewed last week an agreement to lease for a three-year period the premises of the Jai Alai building (pictured). The impairment charge related to the revamp of the Jai Alai complex, “so that it could be operated as a casino,” stated the company.

Ahead of the grant of a new gaming concession contract, which started on January 1, SJM Holdings said it “took a number of steps to rationalise” its portfolio of casino properties, with “a view to improving its operational efficiency”.

On December 27, five third-party owned casinos – Casino Babylon, Casino Diamond, Casino Golden Dragon, Casino Million Dragon and Casino Royal Dragon – were closed. On the same day, two self-promoted casinos – Casino Eastern and Casino Taipa – were also shut.

Macau has 11 satellite casinos that continued to operate under the new 10-year gaming concessions that started on January 1. There had been 18 satellite casinos in the market as of June-end 2022, so venue-wise the sector has shrunk by circa 40 percent. Nine of the 11 continuing satellite casinos rely on SJM Holdings for gaming.

SJM Holdings had been operating at a “considerable loss” in 2022, which the company attributed to “travel restrictions and social distancing regulations” that were in force in Macau as countermeasures against Covid-19.

The loss attributable to SJM Holdings’ owners for the nine months to September 30 was about HKD4.65 billion, compared with a HKD2.71 billion loss in the first nine months of 2021.

The firm’s 2022 annual results are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, March 8.