GGRAsia – AGEM Index April gain after Covid-19 shock

AGEM Index April gain after Covid-19 shock

May 06, 2020 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News, World

The AGEM Index increased by 63.52 points in April, to 376.04 points, a 20.3 percent gain from March.

Eleven of the 13 AGEM Index companies reported “significant stock price increases as global markets began to rebound from the shocks due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), which issues the indicator.

March’s AGEM Index had seen a sequential contraction of 33.4 percent. In April by contrast, “all three major U.S. stock indices increased as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 experienced monthly gains of 11.1 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively,” stated the trade body. “The Nasdaq also experienced a gain of 15.5 percent,” it added.

Nonetheless AGEM said the index of stock prices for major publicly-listed makers of gaming equipment was 21.1 percent lower in April than a year earlier. The trade body produces the monthly AGEM Index in association with research firm Applied Analysis LLC.

Judged month-on-month, the stock price for Australia-listed slot machine maker and online games provider Aristocrat Leisure Ltd increased by 19.4 percent. Judged year-on-year, the group’s stock was down 2.3 percent.

Gaming equipment and lottery services provider International Game Technology Plc (IGT) experienced a 26.7 percent stock price jump sequentially in April. Judged year-on-year, the group’s stock was down 48.5 percent.

Everi Holdings Inc, a U.S.-based specialist in cash handling technology and electronic game content for the casino industry, saw its stock rise 50.0 percent sequentially. Share price was down 51.9 percent year-on-year.

Transact Technologies Inc, a provider of slot machine ticket printers, player management software and food safety management technology, saw its stock up 36.7 percent month-on-month, but slip 54.9 percent from April a year earlier.

Japan-listed Konami Holdings Corp saw its share price up 2.7 percent compared to March, but down 32.7 percent year-on-year.

AGEM represents manufacturers supplying the gaming sector with electronic gaming machines, systems, lotteries and components. The association began compiling data for the index in January 2005 using a base of 100 points. The stocks that constitute the AGEM Index are weighted by approximate market capitalisation.