GGRAsia – SJM ‘summer living subsidy’ for staff

SJM ‘summer living subsidy’ for staff

Jul 01, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA, the Macau operations unit of Hong Kong-listed casino firm SJM Holdings Ltd, has notified its employees that what it termed a “summer living subsidy” would be paid on Friday (July 3).

The firm’s internal memo was published on Tuesday on a social media account associated with local gaming labour activist Cloee Chao.

The SJM group had confirmed to GGRAsia in November that the firm had extended for an additional three years – starting from 2020 – its annual bonus scheme for eligible employees. According to the firm, employees were to receive an annual bonus – referred to by the company as a yearly “living subsidy” – from July 1, 2020 to June 26, 2022.

According to the company, eligible employees are entitled to a bonus equivalent to either one-and-a-half months of annual salary or two months of salary, depending on the worker concerned. Such payment is in two equal instalments, in January and July respectively.

SJM’s current flagship property in the Macau market is the Grand Lisboa casino hotel (pictured). The group is still to open its new property on Cotai, the HKD39-billion (US$5.0-billion) Grand Lisboa Palace. A number of investment analysts has suggested that the group’s long-awaited Cotai scheme might help in market share terms.

There is yet no official date for the opening of the Grand Lisboa Palace property, with investment analysts highlighting the likelihood of a first-half 2021 opening.

SJM Holdings posted a net loss of HKD409 million (US$52.8 million) in the first quarter this year, saying its operations had been “severely impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak”. The company is said to have requested relief from complying with financial covenants for a period of six quarters, on its HKD15 billion syndicated loan.