SJM II (mar26)
MAY26
The second phase of the “Crystal Palace” gaming area on the site of Macau’s Hotel Lisboa (pictured) should launch in July or August, concurrent with the rollout of more than 400 refurbished hotel rooms at the property.
So said Daisy Ho Chiu Fung, chairman of Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd, in a response to questions from GGRAsia at a company event on Tuesday. She added the timing was subject to relevant approvals from Macau’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
By 2027, Hotel Lisboa and its sister casino hotel Grand Lisboa next door in downtown Macau will have a “brand-new” look as a unitary “large-scale” integrated resort, Ms Ho stated in her Tuesday comments to GGRAsia. The two properties are already linked by air-conditioned corridor above street level, though physically divided by a main road.
Grand Lisboa is currently also undergoing a hotel-room revamp, and fresh non-gaming elements are being added, per previous company commentary.
The older Hotel Lisboa is having its lobby refurbished as well as its rooms. The first phase of the revamped Crystal Palace gaming area – which is distinct from the main casino floor within Hotel Lisboa – started operations in late November, per GGRAsia’s checks at the time.
Hotel Lisboa is under SJM Holdings’ privately-held parent, Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau SA (STDM), while the gaming space in the building is under SJM Holdings.
At Hotel Lisboa, “more than 400 refurbished hotel rooms will be gradually rolled out on schedule during summer, along with Noite e Dia,” stated Ms Ho, referring latterly to the updating of a long-standing onsite restaurant.
Bigger Hotel Lisboa rooms
Ms Ho referred to a trend among Macau gaming operators to create bigger hotel rooms from existing hotel stock, which some operators say supports sales for the gaming department. She stated: “The prevailing market environment is that everyone is making bigger rooms.”
She added that as a result at Hotel Lisboa, “our parent, STDM, has followed that market trend and has merged two rooms into one,” in some cases, making the remainder “bigger”.
She also noted: “The refurbished rooms [at Hotel Lisboa] include standard room types and suites.”
While the Hotel Lisboa room rejig will mean fewer rooms than pre-refurbishment, the next-door Grand Lisboa will see a “circa 10 percent” increase in its room count post its rolling revamp.
Ms Ho stated: “Some spaces [at Grand Lisboa] that used to serve VIP [gaming] are being converted into hotel rooms, so that will result in an addition [of] circa 10 percent” in room capacity.
She added: “These additional rooms – among them villas – are answering to the current market demand for premium services.”
The SJM Holdings boss further noted: “Before May 1 [Labour Day holiday season], we already had some 20 to 30 [revamped] rooms at Grand Lisboa launched.”
The Grand Lisboa rejig includes new third-floor food and drink offerings; and moving hotel check-in counters from the ground floor to the seventh floor. There will also be new retail elements on the ground floor, according to Ms Ho’s Tuesday remarks.
The footbridge between Grand Lisboa and Hotel Lisboa will also be revamped, she mentioned. “By completion [of Grand Lisboa work]… in 2027, both Grand Lisboa and Hotel Lisboa will have a brand-new look. They will no longer give people the impression that they are two separate properties, but a large-scale integrated resort,” she added.
2Q market share
GGRAsia asked Ms Ho if her company was confident the refreshment of the group’s two main downtown properties could help it recapture any gaming-market share loss resulting from the ending of satellite gaming in Macau, most of the venues having used the SJM Holdings licence.
Ms Ho responded: “I think we are absolutely confident about it.”
“Now we are in the fifth month without any satellite venues. Looking at the second quarter – entering May-end, so to speak – our [gaming] market share… has increased when compared to the first quarter,” said Ms Ho. She declined to offer an exact figure for market share, due to the “sensitivity” of the data.
The SJM Holdings chairman nonetheless asserted: “We are achieving some progress, even before our new food and beverage and hotel components are [fully] coming online.”
Ms Ho noted that the group’s other downtown properties – Casino Oceanus, and the casino-hotel Casino L’Arc – while not being revamped – had seen “increased” gaming table allocation during the first four months of this year. Grand Lisboa – the SJM Holdings flagship on the peninsula – had also been “performing stably” during the period.
Notwithstanding SJM’s gaming operation without any satellites, “the [company’s] market share has been climbing. That’s why we are confident: we are now just going through a period of adjustment,” said Ms Ho.
GGRAsia asked Ms Ho if any investors in former satellite casinos had been cooperating with her company over the acquisition of their legacy players.
She remarked: “It is not exactly that we are signing any cooperation deal [with former satellite owners]…we have been partners with them for so many years: we still communicate with each other on occasions about their [former] patrons, their preferences and how they should be serviced.”
The SJM Holdings boss asserted that her company had a “well-done transition” following the shutting of the satellite casinos last year as mandated by the city’s new regulatory system. As a result, SJM Holdings had acquired some of the former satellite patrons. “That’s why I’d say our market share loss was smaller than expected,” Ms Ho remarked.
https://www.ggrasia.com/crystal-palace-phase-2-revamped-hotel-lisboa-rooms-launching-in-summer-sjm-boss-daisy-ho?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=crystal-palace-phase-2-revamped-hotel-lisboa-rooms-launching-in-summer-sjm-boss-daisy-ho
+
https://agbrief.com/news/macau/27/05/2026/daisy-ho-says-lisboa-hotel-and-grand-lisboa-will-become-one-complex-by-2027/?utm_source=Asia+Gaming+Brief&utm_campaign=b70f1c62c8-AGB%3A+%2302392+Wednesday%2C+27th+May%2C+2026&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_51950b5d21-b70f1c62c8-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&ct=t%28AGB%3A+%2302392+Wednesday%2C+27th+May%2C+2026%29&goal=0_51950b5d21-b70f1c62c8-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=b70f1c62c8&mc_eid=31e20475e6
may26
Fitch cuts SJM Holdings rating, cites slower-than-expected deleveraging
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating of Hong Kong-listed casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’, while assigning it a “stable” outlook. The credit ratings agency cited weaker-than-expected deleveraging prospects and softer earnings recovery for the casino firm.
A ‘B+’ rating indicates “highly speculative” fundamental credit quality, according to the ratings agency. Fitch also lowered the senior unsecured rating and rating on outstanding notes issued by subsidiary SJM International Ltd to ‘B’ from ‘BB-’.
“The downgrade reflects Fitch’s view that SJM Holdings’ leverage trajectory is no longer consistent with its previous rating level,” the institution stated in a Friday memo.
Fitch said it now expects the casino firm’s leverage metrics over the next two years to remain above thresholds associated with the ‘BB-’ rating level, amid slower growth in terms of earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA).
That is “due to market share dilution from the closure of satellite casinos and continued lacklustre performance at Grand Lisboa Palace,” wrote analysts Samuel Hui, Rebecca Tang, and Tyran Kam.
SJM Holdings reported a first-quarter net loss of circa HKD62 million (US$7.9 million), versus a net profit of HKD31 million a year earlier. That was on net revenues that declined 22.8 percent year-on-year, to HKD5.36 billion.
First-quarter group-wide adjusted EBITDA were down 4.3 percent year-on-year, at HKD917 million.
The three months to March 31 marked the first quarter the company operated without satellite casinos in its portfolio.
Earlier this month, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the corporate family rating of SJM Holdings to ‘B1’, from ‘Ba3’. Moody’s changed the firm’s rating outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’.
In Friday’s report, Fitch forecast SJM Holdings’ EBITDA leverage at 7.8 times in 2026 and 6.5 times in 2027, improving from more than 9 times in 2025, but still “significantly higher” than the agency’s downgrade threshold of 5.0 times.
The institution nonetheless expects the casino group to continue reducing debt over the medium term through improved operating performance and gradual free cash flow generation. Fitch projected adjusted EBITDA at HKD3.7 billion for 2026 and HKD4.2 billion for 2027, versus HKD3.0 billion in 2025.
According to the Fitch analysts, earnings improvement should be supported by higher margins following the termination of Macau’s low-margin satellite casino system and efforts to recapture gaming business through self-operated properties, including the recently acquired L’Arc Casino.
Additional cost savings could come from staff redeployment and natural attrition following the satellite restructuring, the institution added.
Nonetheless, the ratings agency noted that SJM Holdings’ market position had weakened. The operator’s market share fell to 9.6 percent in the first quarter of 2026, below Fitch’s previous assumption of 10.7 percent for the year, reflecting the impact of satellite casino closures.
Fitch also flagged continuing underperformance at the Grand Lisboa Palace complex (pictured), saying growth momentum had slowed. Non-rolling gaming volume growth at the Cotai property eased to 3 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025 and declined 1 percent in the first quarter of 2026, after stronger increases earlier in 2025, the analysts noted.
In its assumptions, Fitch projected Macau casino gross gaming revenue growth of 5 percent in 2026 and 2 percent annually thereafter. It forecast SJM Holdings’ market share at between 9.7 percent and 9.8 percent during 2026 to 2028, with revenue expected to decline 17 percent in 2026 before returning to modest growth in subsequent years.
The ratings agency said the firm’s liquidity remained “adequate”, noting that the company had refinanced bonds due this year via a US$540-million senior notes issuance completed in January and additional syndicated loan facilities. As of end-2025, SJM Holdings had HKD2.0 billion in available cash, excluding cage cash, and HKD3.6 billion in undrawn revolving facilities.
https://www.ggrasia.com/fitch-cuts-sjm-holdings-rating-cites-slower-than-expected-deleveraging?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fitch-cuts-sjm-holdings-rating-cites-slower-than-expected-deleveraging
may26
SJM Holdings is the Macau gaming operator most exposed to Sands China’s more aggressive player reinvestment program, brokerage CLSA said in a research note published on Thursday.
Analyst Jeffrey Kiang said SJM’s gross gaming revenue market share slipped to 9.6 percent in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below CLSA’s forecast of 9.8 percent, and pointed to continued pressure on the operator’s top line.
SJM also recorded an 8 percent year-on-year decline in gaming revenue during the May Golden Week, which the brokerage attributed to the discontinuation of satellite casinos, even though the total number of gaming tables remained unchanged.
CLSA said player reinvestment costs appeared to be rising structurally, even as SJM maintained a disciplined approach to operating expenses. ‘Commissions and incentives’ as a percentage of gross gaming revenue jumped to 12.6 percent in the first quarter of 2026, up from 8 percent in the same period a year earlier and 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025.
https://agbrief.com/news/macau/10/05/2026/clsa-flags-sjm-vulnerability-amid-sands-china-player-investment-drive/?utm_source=Asia+Gaming+Brief&utm_campaign=bfcfc97c53-AGB%3A+%2302381+Monday%2C+11th+May%2C+2026&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_51950b5d21-bfcfc97c53-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&ct=t%28AGB%3A+%2302381+Monday%2C+11th+May%2C+2026%29&goal=0_51950b5d21-bfcfc97c53-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=bfcfc97c53&mc_eid=31e20475e6
may26
Grand Lisboa Palace needs stronger strategic execution : analyst
By Aries Un
Leveraging has been highlighted as a concern in recent Seaport analysis on casino operator SJM Holdings, whish is currently carrying a net debt 7.8 times its earnings.
Following the earnings announcement by SJM on Thursday, analyst Vitaly Umansky wrote that SJM’s leveraging would decline by the end of 2027 to an amount 6.8 times EBITDA, a measure of a business’s cash-generating power.
“[…] we see no likelihood of dividends at least for the next 3+ years as the company needs to delever,” he wrote.
Another concern pointed out by the analyst was regarding Grand Lisboa Palace’s “slow pace of ramp up”, which was described as a “significant concern” that could limit any “potential positive view”.
In spite of non-gaming additions to the Cotai property and a focus on premium mass, Umansky forecasts a marginal market share improvement for the remainder of 2026 only.
“The return on investment remains abysmally low and unlikely to achieve anything approaching positive value creation (vs. cost of investment) in the foreseeable future (if at all),” the report read.
A lack of a strong ability to aggressively capture more of the premium mass segment could prevent this Cotai property gaining “material share”, he added.
In his analysis, this property’s market share is plateauing at the low three-percent level, “unless there is a material change in strategy and execution,” he added.
GLP’s Q1 operating expenses climbed five per cent sequentially but a whopping 20 per cent year on year, according to the analyst.
However, properties on the peninsula targeting base mass delivered a “bright spot” performance, lifting market share to 3.9 per cent – up by 150 basis points both sequentially and year over year.
L’Arc Macau and Casino Lisboa were said to have been major drivers, representing a combined 54 per cent of SJM’s Q1 earnings – even slightly more than Grand Lisboa.
Overall, Q1 EBITDA margin improved sequentially to 19 per cent, but remained well below the Q1 2025 level of 24.1 per cent.
https://macaubusiness.com/grand-lisboa-palace-needs-better-strategic-execution-analyst/
may26
SJM Holdings reverses profit to post Q1 loss
By Aries Un
SJM Holdings ended the first quarter of 2026 with a loss of HK$62 million (US$7.92 million / MOP63.9 million), reversing a prior profit of HK$31 million in the same period of last year.
This Q1 result was announced on Thursday as the casino operator saw its net revenue down 21 per cent to HK$5.9 billion during that period.
Gross gaming revenue reported by SJM also suffered a considerable drop of 18.8 per cent to HK$6.1 billion, dragging net gaming revenue down 22.8 per cent to HK$5.36 billion.
SJM’s adjusted earnings dipped 4.3 per cent to HK$917 million, despite a slight expansion in margin to 15.5 per cent from 12.8 per cent a year earlier.
There was also a year-over-year drop of 2.9 percentage points in hotel occupancy, which stood at 94.4 per cent last quarter.
SJM narrowed its market share by 3.9 percentage points to 9.6 per cent in the first quarter of the year.
https://macaubusiness.com/sjm-holdings-reverses-profit-to-post-q1-loss/
ab26
Macau gaming operator SJM Holdings is entering what it describes as an “important inflection point” in 2026. Completed table redeployments and ongoing portfolio upgrades are expected to support progressive improvements in profit margins and returns, according to Chairman and Executive Director Daisy Ho.
mar26
Daisy Ho buys US$3mln worth of casino group SJM’s US$540mln senior unsecured notes
mar26
SJM’s liquidity ‘adequate’ despite ‘weak’ 2025 results: Lucror
mar26
The risk of Macau concessionaire SJM Holdings not resuming dividend payments by 2027 has grown given the company’s need to focus its energies on deleveraging, according to investment group CLSA.
In a Tuesday note, CLSA’s Jeffrey Kiang said SJM still had “some way to go” on the road to deleveraging, which should command a higher priority in capital allocation in 2026 and 2027. As such, “the risks of SJM not paying dividends in 2027 has grown” following release last week of the company’s 4Q25 results, which saw Adjusted EBITDA fall 32% year-on-year and below forecasts to HK$671 million.
“We think SJM faces more structural headwinds than other concessionaires amid the more aggressive spending program by Sands China since summer 2025, as we view they have the most overlapping in targeted players,” Kiang wrote.
CLSA noted that decline was attributable to a 3.1 percentage point contraction in revenue market share to 10.5% because of leakage of players from the closure of satellite casinos throughout 2H25.
However, he also highlighted comments from SJM during its 4Q25 earnings call indicating that GGR market share at its Macau peninsula properties in the first two months of this year had grown due to the fast ramp-up of L’Arc. SJM fully acquired the former satellite casino in late December and has transferred some gaming tables and machines from closed satellites to the premises.
https://asgam.com/2026/03/11/growing-risk-of-macaus-sjm-deferring-resumption-of-dividend-payments-beyond-2027-says-clsa/
Comments
Post a Comment