SJM Holdings, parent company of Macau casino operator Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, said construction is finished on its long-awaited Grand Lisboa Palace, and the HK$39 billion casino hotel complex (US$5.02 billion) will open in the territory’s Cotai resort enclave in the second half of the year.
The Hong Kong-listed company made the announcement while reporting that its sprawling casino portfolio overcame a slight decline in gaming revenue in 2019 to generate a full-year profit that was up 12.5 percent to HK$3.21 billion ($401.1 million).
In a year that saw a significant drop-off in VIP play market-wide, the four casinos SJM operates including the Grand Lisboa and the venerable Casino Lisboa together with 16 casinos it leases to third-party operators, combined for HK$33.16 billion ($4.27 billion) from gaming, down 1.5 percent from 2018.
EBITDA was up 13.1 percent year on year to just over HK$4.21 billion ($542.2 million).
The company said a final dividend for the year of HK$0.22 will be payable “subject to approval by the shareholders” at the upcoming annual general meeting.
Chief Executive Ambrose So, called the performance “our best results in the past five years” despite the fact that the company did not escape the general VIP fall-off. Group revenue from the sector fell 30.4 percent year on year to just under HK$13.69 billion on a 37.4 percent decline in volume.
But VIP as a percentage of the company’s business was down from 44.8 percent to 34.2 percent, and on the plus side, mass market table game revenue rose 8.9 percent to nearly HKD25.13 billion.
Machine gaming win rose 2.5 percent to nearly HK$1.18 billion
On the balance sheet side, the company reported cash, bank balances and pledged bank deposits at year’s end totaling just under HKD15.53 billion.
“SJM has entered 2020 in a strong position to face the year’s challenges,” So said.
