GGRAsia – Aristocrat profit up 35 pct in 1H fiscal 2015

Aristocrat profit up 35 pct in 1H fiscal 2015

May 26, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Australia-based slot machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd on Tuesday reported a 35.2 percent rise year-on-year in profit after tax and amortisation for the first half fiscal 2015. Such profit was AUD77.6 million (US$60.4 million), compared with AUD57.4 million in the six months to March 31 in the year-prior period.

Without favourable fluctuations in the value of the Australian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar – a currency in which the company gets paid for much of its export earnings – the profit rise after tax and amortisation would have been 17.4 percent.

Group wide, revenue jumped 73.5 percent year-on-year to AUD685.0 million, compared to AUD394.7 million in the year-prior period.

An investment analyst said the numbers were boosted by the acquisition of U.S-based slot and bingo machine maker Video Gaming Technologies Inc last year and a deepening push into digital gaming.

“Key drivers were Australia, Video Gaming Technologies, U.S. gaming operations, and online…all ahead of our expectations, partly offset by weaker international and higher research and development expenses,” said Sacha Krien of CLSA Ltd.

“We have taken major steps forward in our product-led, share-taking strategy,” Jamie Odell, Aristocrat Leisure’s chief executive, said in a statement accompanying the results.

But Matthew Ryan and Olivia Bible of JP Morgan Securities Australia Ltd said in a note on Tuesday: “The operational result was mixed; with a very strong performance in Australia and VGT being partly offset by weaker than expected unit sales in the U.S. and slower than expected growth in the participation installed base.”