The Australian slot-machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd reported a normalised net profit after tax and amortisation in its financial first half ended March of AUD422.3 million (US$290.05 million), a 16.8-percent increase in year-on-year terms.
Aristocrat Leisure told the Australian Securities Exchange on Thursday that its first-half operating revenue had grown by about 30 percent, to AUD2.11 billion.
The company said its first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation had risen by 19.2 percent to AUD766.3 million, up from AUD642.9 million in the first half of 2018.
Aristocrat Leisure said the increase in net profit after tax and amortisation had been driven by strong growth in its North American and digital businesses, and by further improvement of its performance in Australia and New Zealand, as it continued to invest in talent and technology.
The company gave no details of its performance in the Asian market.
“Aristocrat continues to deliver above market profitable growth, leading to strong free cash flow and the ability to reinvest to self-fund future growth, whilst ensuring strong foundations remain in place,” company chief executive and managing director Trevor Croker said in comments included in a press release.
He added: “Aristocrat’s increased investment in design and development during the period also demonstrates our commitment to sustaining our growth engine going forward. Design and development is our preferred allocation of capital, and we are investing effectively to protect and extend our market-leading positions, whilst attacking attractive adjacencies.”
Aristocrat Leisure proposed a first-half dividend of AUD0.22 per ordinary share payable on July 2 to shareholders on record on May 30.
