GGRAsia – Ainsworth 2H revenue rises to US$83mln, Asia only 0.5pct

Ainsworth 2H revenue rises to US$83mln, Asia only 0.5pct

Feb 27, 2023 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News

Australia-listed slot machine maker Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd reported an after-tax profit of AUD5.9 million (US$4.0 million) for the six months ended December 31, down 35.2 percent in year-on-year terms. The company had posted an after-tax profit of AUD2.7 million for the first half of 2022.

Ainsworth said in a filing on Monday that its group-wide revenue rose by 23.2 percent year-on-year, to AUD124.1 million (circa US$83.3 million). Revenue was up 3.8 percent sequentially.

Asia accounted for slightly under 0.5 percent of Ainsworth’s revenue in the reporting period. Revenue from Asian markets stood at AUD570,000 for the six months ended December 2022, most of it coming from sale either of gaming machines or parts for them. The company did not provide a year-on-year comparison: it only stated that revenue originating from Asian markets had amounted to AUD674,000 in the 12 months ended June 30, 2022, or 0.3 percent of Ainsworth’s total revenue.

In June last year, Ainsworth announced it was changing the company’s financial year-end, from June 30 to December 31. This was in order to align its reporting schedule “with its overseas operations and business cycles,” as well as with the financial year-end of Novomatic AG. Austria-based Novomatic controls a 52-percent stake in Ainsworth.

Ainsworth posted a AUD75,000 segment loss for its Asia operations in the six months ended December 2022. Asia was the only regional operation posting a segment loss.

Ainsworth said there had been “minimal contribution” from Asia and Europe to its overall revenue during the second half of 2022, “as these markets continued to emerge slowly post Covid-19 lockdowns”.

Company-wide earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were AUD14.9 million, versus AUD24.6 million in the prior-year period, said the gaming supplier. EBITDA for the first six months of 2022 had stood at AUD12.5 million.

No dividend was declared for the latest reporting period. The firm said that “dividend continues to be suspended to provide strong liquidity to allow the company to continue to invest in research and development to deliver competitive products and to navigate the uncertainties in global supply chain shortages and continuing inflationary cost pressures.”

Harald Neumann, Ainsworth’s chief executive, said in prepared remarks that the group’s performance “continued to improve through the year driven by [casino property] re-openings and recovery in many of our major international markets.”

He added: “I am confident that the investment we have made to fundamentally upgrade our technology, hardware and improve game performance is expected to deliver further improvements in our results.”