{"id":777042365,"date":"2026-05-19T08:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777042365"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:50:38","slug":"moodys-downgrades-sjm-holdings-to-b1-revises-outlook-to-stable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/moodys-downgrades-sjm-holdings-to-b1-revises-outlook-to-stable","title":{"rendered":"Moody\u2019s downgrades SJM Holdings and revises outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ratings agency expects gradual earnings growth and improving leverage, supported by Casino L\u2019Arc contributions and table reallocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Moody\u2019s Ratings has downgraded the corporate family rating (CFR) of SJM Holdings one step from Ba3 to B1, while revising the company\u2019s outlook from to stable. It cited expectations that earnings recovery will remain gradual over the next 12 to 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency also downgraded the backed senior unsecured ratings on bonds issued by Champion Path Holdings Limited and SJM International Limited, both guaranteed by SJM, from B1 to B2. According to Moody\u2019s, the downgrade reflects expectations that the operator\u2019s financial leverage, although improving, will remain elevated in the near term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moody\u2019s expects SJM\u2019s adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio to improve to around 7.3x in 2026 from 9.0x in 2025, before declining to approximately 6.3x in 2027. The improvement is expected to be driven primarily by EBITDA growth, combined with moderate debt reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ratings agency expects adjusted EBITDA to increase from HK$3.4bn (US$434m) in 2025 to HK$4.1bn (US$524m) in 2026 and HK$4.5bn (US$575m) in 2027. The projected growth reflects contributions from Casino L\u2019Arc following its acquisition in December 2025<\/a>, as well as gradual earnings gains from gaming tables reallocated from former satellite casinos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moody\u2019s said earnings performance at Grand Lisboa Palace and Grand Lisboa is expected to remain subdued, broadly in line with first-quarter 2026 results. Despite the downgrade, Moody\u2019s described SJM\u2019s liquidity position as \u201cgood\u201d, highlighting cash holdings of HK$2bn, excluding restricted cash, alongside available revolving credit facilities that are expected to sufficiently cover committed capital expenditure and debt maturities over the next 12 to 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Moody\u2019s revises Macau outlook<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ratings agency expects gradual earnings growth and improving leverage, supported by Casino L\u2019Arc contributions and table reallocations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":16789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Moody's Ratings has downgraded SJM Holdings' corporate family rating to B1 from Ba3, citing expectations of gradual earnings recovery and elevated financial leverage. Despite the downgrade, driven by an adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio projected to remain high, Moody's maintains a stable outlook, anticipating improvement from Casino L\u2019Arc contributions and gaming table reallocations.","focusai_entities":"SJM Holdings, Moody's Ratings, Champion Path Holdings Limited, SJM International Limited, Casino L\u2019Arc, Grand Lisboa Palace, Grand Lisboa","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"SJM Leverage Impact?","query":"What specific operational adjustments or asset divestitures might SJM Holdings consider to accelerate debt reduction and improve its adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio beyond Moody's current projections?"},{"label":"Macau Market Outlook?","query":"How does Moody's assessment of SJM's subdued performance at Grand Lisboa Palace and Grand Lisboa reflect on the broader recovery trajectory and competitive dynamics within the Macau gaming market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,163,24628,158],"tags":[29,24619,257],"class_list":["post-777042365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-finance-news","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-slider-home","tag-casino","tag-finance","tag-macau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777042365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777042365"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777042365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777042372,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777042365\/revisions\/777042372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777042365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777042365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777042365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}