May 5, 2021
In Macau and local casino operator SJM Holdings Limited has reportedly announced that it expects to ‘soft launch’ its new Grand Lisboa Palace property before the end of June in advance of conducting a full third-quarter premiere.
According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, the Hong Kong-listed firm began work on the $5 billion Cotai Strip development in February of 2014 and hopes that the finished facility will provide stern competition to a host of nearby rivals including the $3.2 billion Studio City Macau venue from Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited. The source detailed that the gambling-friendly Grand Lisboa Palace is set to debut offering around 300 hotel rooms before this complement is later expanded via the opening of a pair of in-house boutique hotels to 1,892.
Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd expects to get up to 200 new-to-market live gaming tables for the opening of its HKD39-billion (US$5-billion) Grand Lisboa Palace gaming resort (pictured) on Cotai, a property the firm wants to open before the end of the first half.
That is according to a Tuesday note from brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd, citing commentary from the casino group’s management following its first-quarter earnings filed that day with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“SJM has not yet had a table allocation” from the city’s government for Grand Lisboa Palace, stated Sanford Bernstein. It added the casino group expected a new-table allocation from the Macau government “similar to other recent Cotai property openings (150 to 200 tables)”.
Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd plans to raise fresh cash via senior notes denominated in the city’s own currency the pataca (MOP), as well as in Hong Kong dollars, and to list the notes on Macau’s fledgling bond market, the Chongwa (Macao) Financial Asset Exchange Co Ltd.
It gave the information in a Wednesday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where the group has its public stock listing. Macau – encouraged by China’s central government – has pledged to diversify its economy beyond tourism and casino gambling, including the creation of a market for financial services.
SJM Holdings has said it plans to open a first phase of its HKD39-billion (US$5-billion) new Cotai gaming resort, Grand Lisboa Palace, before the end of June.
Grand Lisboa Palace, a $5 billion undertaking, is seen complete on the Cotai Strip. The Macau resort is SJM Holdings’ largest investment ever. (Image:
Inside Asian Gaming)
During the company’s first-quarter 2021 earnings call this week, executives said they are still waiting on their table games allocation from the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). SJM said it wishes to have approximately 300 table games and more than 1,000 slot machines when it welcomes its first guests.
The 300-table target is considerably more than what the DICJ typically allows for new integrated resorts. The gaming regulator’s standard for new large-scale casinos is usually around 150 to 200 table games.
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.