Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2009 34 Ho said in comments reported in the Hong Kong press. “Our development plans are moving ahead as scheduled and we will come through these times stronger than ever,” he added. SJM received considerable criticism over the summer last year for launching a public share offering that many market commentators regarded as ‘too little too late’. It raised only around half the US$1 billion that analysts had thought the company was worth even six months earlier. In the light of subsequent world events, however, SJM’s limited exposure to new commitments regarding shareholder dividends, its low levels of debt and the fact it is one of only two casino operators in Macau currently turning a profit for shareholders (the other being Wynn Resorts) means SJM now looks like a prudently managed company with strategic planning of the highest order. SJM recently opened a new 430-room hotel tower attached to its HK$7 billion Grand Lisboa site—across the road from the original Lisboa Hotel and casino on the Macau peninsula. Profit & loss forecast Source: Deutsche Bank, SJM data Operator Outlook