Casino-equipment and food-service technology supplier TransAct Technologies Inc announced on Tuesday fourth-quarter sales in the casino and gaming segment rose by 33.3 percent sequentially, to nearly US$2.7 million. The figure represented a decline of 49.8 percent from the US$5.3 million in fourth-quarter sales a year earlier.
“Throughout our most challenging year ever we proved the agility of our business model by posting sequentially stronger sales quarters in the second half of 2020 and we finished the year with momentum as we enter 2021,” said Bart Shuldman, chairman and chief executive of the group, in commentary accompanying the fourth-quarter numbers.
TransAct reported a net loss of US$1.9 million for the three months to December 31, up from a US$867,000 net loss in the previous quarter. The latest result was a nearly 140-percent increase from the US$800,000 loss in the final quarter a year earlier.
The group’s core business has been casino player rewards and player tracking software, and ticket printers for electronic gaming machines. More recently it has been developing sales of its food-inventory monitoring and food-service tracking system known as Boha.
Mr Shuldman said TransAct’s performance benefitted from higher sales sales in the group’s food-service technology (FST) segment.
“Our FST market has picked up considerable steam and posted a 27 percent year-over-year revenue gain despite the obvious challenges our customers were facing,” he stated.
He added: “We are also starting to see green shoots in our casino and gaming market as the pandemic continues to subside and gambling floors begin to prepare for life after Covid-19.”
TransAct’s overall quarterly net sales were down 30.5 percent year-on-year, to just below US$7.8 million, from nearly US$11.2 million in the year-ago period. Sales were however up 6.3 percent sequentially, said the firm.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months to December 31 were negative by nearly US$2.0 million, an increase on the US$273,000 in negative EBITDA recorded in the prior-year reporting period. In the third quarter of 2020, TransAct had reported negative EBITDA of US$1.1 million.
For full-year 2020, TransAct reported group-wide sales of nearly US$30.6 million, down 33.1 percent from the previous year. Sales in the casino and gaming segment fell by 49.0 percent year-on-year, to almost US$11.0 million.
The company generated negative EBITDA of nearly US$6.8 million in 2020, compared with a positive result of US$1.7 million in 2019. The group swung to a net loss of US$5.6 million last year, compared with a profit of US$516,000 in 2019.
