Australia-listed slot machine maker and gaming content provider Aristocrat Leisure Ltd reported full-year statutory net profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired intangibles (NPATA) of just above AUD1.31 billion (US$857.0 million), up 6.5 percent year-on-year.
On a normalised basis – excluding the impact of certain significant items and discontinued operations – NPATA for the reporting period stood at AUD1.55 billion, an increase of 12.2 percent from a year earlier.
That was on revenue of almost AUD6.30 billion, up 11.0 percent from the previous fiscal year, according to a Wednesday filing.
The company declared an unfranked dividend of AUD0.49 per share for the financial year ending September 30, to be paid on December 8.
The company said AUD1.4 billion of cash was returned to shareholders through dividends and on-market share buy-backs during the financial year, “in line with the group’s capital allocation framework”.
Full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) on a normalised basis were up 15.6 percent year-on-year, to nearly AUD2.63 billion. EBITDA margin stood at 41.7 percent, up from 40.1 percent a year ago.
The group’s net debt as of September 30 was AUD423.3 million, down 62.9 percent year-on-year.
Trevor Croker, Aristocrat’s Leisure’s chief executive and managing director, was quoted as saying in a press release with the results: “We delivered on our second half performance commitments, and achieved a strong group result for the full year, with double digit growth across most key metrics.
“This illustrates the quality of Aristocrat’s portfolio and ability to grow through different operating environments while also investing for the future.”
Aristocrat Leisure’s reporting segments span regulated land-based gaming, via Aristocrat Gaming; social casino, via Product Madness; and regulated online real money gaming, via Aristocrat Interactive.
During the financial year, Aristocrat completed what it termed its “strategic review” of its casual gaming and mid-core businesses and concluded the divestiture of Plarium Global Ltd in February 2025.
Business rejig, Aristocrat Gaming profit up
Mr Croker was cited saying in Wednesday’s announcement: “This year was a period of positive transition for Aristocrat as the business aligned its portfolio to refreshed priorities while maintaining a proven approach that has delivered high-quality operational performance and superior profit growth over a sustained period.”
He added: “Consistent with our strategy, we completed the divestiture of Plarium during the year, generating a significant gain on sale, and subsequent to year end, we divested Big Fish Games.”
“From financial year 2026 onwards, our Product Madness mobile operations will therefore be focused purely on social casino,” Mr Croker noted.
Full-year revenue by current segments saw Aristocrat Gaming generate AUD3.96 billion. Product Madness produced AUD1.15 billion, and Aristocrat Interactive generated AUD442.2 million, the latter including revenue share from the NeoPollard Interactive joint venture.
Profit by segment saw Aristocrat Gaming with AUD2.16 billion, up 6.9 percent year-on-year. Product Madness made AUD516.2 million, a 11.6 percent improvement. Aristocrat Interactive’s profit was AUD130.7 million, an 87.0 percent gain.
The company noted that gaming profit increased AUD140 million in the reporting period, with profit up in the North America and the Rest of World segments. Profit in the Rest of World segment, which includes casino slot machine sales in Asia-Pacific but excludes Australia and New Zealand, was “up AUD27 million compared to the prior year,” as per the update.
The firm added there had been a “decline in [group-wide] margin from 56 percent to 55 percent reflecting the mix effect from the strong outright sales performance”.
In Rest of World, Aristocrat sold 6,942 gaming machine units in the financial year. That was down 20.0 percent on financial-year 2024. But the average selling price for the year ending September 30 was AUD22,054, an increase of 27.2 percent on the average in financial-year 2024.
Product Madness profit margin increased 3.8 percentage points to 44.7 percent “reflecting disciplined user acquisition spend, a strong focus on operational efficiency and increased direct-to-consumer sales, resulting in lower overhead and platform costs,” said the slot machine maker.
Aristocrat Interactive profit margin improved by 2.6 percentage points to 29.6 percent.
“This was driven by the inclusion of NeoGames for the full 12-month period which led to a favourable mix contribution from iLottery in North America, coupled with the expansion of market access for content and new game launches with major operators in the U.S., and solid performance in the platforms businesses across the U.S. and Australia/New Zealand,” stated the firm.
