GGRAsia – SJM posts US$83mln 1Q loss, Cotai resort eyed for 1H

SJM posts US$83mln 1Q loss, Cotai resort eyed for 1H

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

Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd reported a net loss of HKD647 million (US$83.3 million) for the opening three months of 2021, on net gaming revenue that fell by 29.2 percent in year-on-year terms. That compares with a loss of approximately HKD409 million in the prior-year period, according to a filing on Tuesday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Total net revenue for the three months to March 31 was just below HKD2.48 billion, compared with HKD3.48 billion in the prior-year period, the firm said in selected unaudited key performance indicators for the first quarter of 2021.

Quarter-on-quarter comparisons were not provided by the company. SJM Holdings usually does not make publicly available financial data for the fourth quarter of each financial year; instead, the firm just provides full-year figures.

Net gaming revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was just above HKD2.41 billion, down from nearly HKD3.41 billion for the first three months of 2020, the group said in its latest filing.

SJM Holdings operates its current casino hotel flagship, Grand Lisboa, on the city’s peninsula, and is still to open a Cotai property – the HKD39-billion Grand Lisboa Palace (pictured).

In Tuesday’s filing, the firm continued to say it “anticipates” opening its resort scheme on Cotai “during the first half of 2021”.

“Construction of the Grand Lisboa Palace… has been completed and the project is undergoing final inspections by local government authorities,” added the casino firm.

In the firm’s 2020 annual report, filed in April, the company said that the Grand Lisboa Palace scheme had “passed several of the final government inspections,” and that the group expected to receive the property’s “operating permit soon.”

The firm has anticipated the Cotai project will open “during the first half of 2021,” according to previous corporate information.

As of March 31, 14 gaming venues in Macau were managed by third parties but were using the SJM Holdings’ gaming licence.

The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter were negative to the tune of nearly HKD319 million, compared to a negative result of HKD200 million in the first three months of 2020.

Ambrose So Shui Fai, vice chairman and chief executive of the group, was quoted saying in a press release accompanying the first-quarter financial highlights: “SJM Holdings’ results recently have begun responding to the resumption of leisure travel to Macau.”

He added: “We look forward to further gradual improvement in market conditions for the rest of 2021.”

SJM Holdings indicated its share of Macau-market casino GGR had declined to 11.6 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to a share of 13.3 percent a year before.

For the three months to March 31, group VIP GGR slipped 59.4 percent year-on-year, to just under HKD485 million. That was on VIP chip sales that fell by almost two thirds year-on-year, to around HKD13 billion.

First quarter mass-market table GGR fell by 21.3 percent year-on-year, to about HKD2.05 billion. Slot machine GGR for the period decreased by 17.3 percent from the prior-year period, to HKD116 million.

The group said it had cash, bank balances, short-term bank deposits and pledged bank deposits totalling just below HKD2.48 billion as of March 31. SJM Holdings additionally had access to HKD10 billion of undrawn funds from a revolving credit facility, and total debt amounting to close to HKD16.56 billion.