SJM Holdings reported a net loss for full-year 2025 after completing the shutdown of its satellite casino network in Macau, with adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) falling 15 percent year-on-year as the concessionaire absorbed the costs of consolidating its operations into directly owned properties.
The results confirm what the company had signalled a year earlier: exiting third-party venues would leave a visible mark on near-term profitability, even as the underlying business held relatively steady.
A transition that squeezed margins
Gross gaming revenue for the year was broadly flat, edging down less than one percent on 2024. The more significant shift was in earnings, where the 15 percent EBITDA decline reflected restructuring costs and the operational drag of running two parallel models i.e., satellite and self-promoted, during the wind-down period.
Self-promoted casino revenue, covering operations run entirely within SJM’s own concession properties, grew by more than four percent. That growth offered the clearest evidence that the company’s directly operated business was expanding even as the satellite network closed around it.
SJM’s market share slipped from 13.1 percent in 2024 to 11.9 percent in 2025. The company attributed the decline to the satellite closures rather than any deterioration in its core venues. Chairwoman Daisy Ho described 2025 as a transition period amid changes to Macau’s gaming operating environment.
How the network came down
Satellite casinos had long been a feature of Macau’s gaming model: third-party venues operating under a concessionaire’s licence, typically in hotels and complexes away from the main integrated resorts. SJM, whose roots in Macau pre-date the liberalisation era, had one of the largest such networks among the city’s six concessionaires.
In June 2025, the company announced plans to exit seven satellite operations. Closures began at the end of July, accelerated through the second half of the year, and were completed by end-December. Gaming tables and staff were redeployed into SJM’s directly operated properties, and the company acquired certain assets in the process, including the L’Arc Hotel property.
The satellite exit reflects a wider regulatory direction in Macau. Concessionaires have been moving activity into properties they own outright, in line with the framework governing the current concession period, which began in 2023.
Property consolidation under way
Grand Lisboa, the company’s landmark Peninsula property, held up reasonably well through the transition despite a modest dip in gaming revenue. Grand Lisboa Palace on Cotai, SJM’s flagship integrated resort and primary growth vehicle, saw its earnings contribution fall sharply, a reflection of continued investment in the property rather than weakening demand.
Hotel Lisboa provided one of the year’s more tangible operational milestones. Its Crystal Palace gaming area reopened in November following a renovation, adding capacity at a point when SJM was actively redirecting customers previously served through satellite venues.
Where things stand
With the satellite network fully wound down, SJM’s operating model is now consolidated entirely around its concession-owned properties. The self-promoted revenue growth recorded in 2025 suggests the transition has not undermined the company’s ability to attract direct custom, though integrating a customer base previously distributed across third-party venues remains the operational task ahead.
SJM carried a substantial debt load into the post-transition period, reflecting the investment required to build and develop Grand Lisboa Palace over recent years. Cash reserves of HKD 3 billion ($385 million) provided a working buffer as the restructuring concluded.
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