Everi Holdings Inc, a United States-based specialist in cash handling technology and electronic game content for the casino industry, reported net income of nearly US$5.9 million for the first quarter of 2019, 27.1 percent higher than a year earlier. The company said the quarterly results were boosted by “record” revenues from its games division and its financial technology or “fintech” division.
Aggregate revenues for the first three months of 2019 increased 11.5 percent year-on-year to approximately US$123.8 million, the firm said in a Tuesday filing to the New York Stock Exchange.
Games segment revenue was slightly above US$67.4 million for the first quarter of 2019, up 12.0 percent from the prior-year period. The fintech division reported revenue of US$56.3 million, an increase of 11.0 percent from the comparable period in 2018.
The company reported operating income of nearly US$25.9 million for the three months to March 31, 5.6 percent higher compared to US$24.5 million a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the reporting period increased by US$3.3 million – or 5.7 percent year-on-year – to US$61.3 million.
Commenting on the firm’s first-quarter performance, Michael Rumbolz, president and chief executive of Everi, said in a prepared statement: “Our record first-quarter results reflect the eleventh consecutive quarter we have achieved year-over-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth as we again generated solid organic growth while also benefiting from initial contributions of our recent acquisition of player loyalty technology.”
He added: “Overall 2019 is off to the solid start we anticipated and as a result, we remain on track to achieve our full year expectation for adjusted EBITDA of between US$252 million to US$255 million. We also continue to expect that free cash flow will approximately double compared to the nearly US$25 million in free cash flow generated in 2018.”
In the games segment, Everi said it sold a total of 1,259 gaming units during the reporting period, an increase of 18 percent from the year-ago period. The sale of gaming units and other related parts and equipment generated revenues of US$23.1 million in the first quarter of 2019 compared to US$20.2 million in the prior-year period.
Revenues from gaming operations increased approximately 10.5 percent year-on-year, to what the company said was a record US$44.3 million. The improvement seen in the gaming operations was however “partially offset” by a decline in the average installed base during the reporting period.
The number of installed units at March 31, 2019, decreased by 480 units year-on-year to 13,644 units, due to the removal of approximately 330 “lower performing units” from a U.S.-based customer and the sale of approximately 200 units from the installed base to another customer in the same market. The so-called premium portion of Everi’s installed base increased 7.4 percent year-on-year to 3,004 units.
“Our investments in new cabinets, game content and features continue to strengthen the appeal of our games’ segment portfolio for customers and their players,” said Mr Rumbolz in the prepared statement.
“We sold a record number of new units in the first quarter, with more than 80 percent of the 1,259 units sold on either our newer Empire MPX cabinet or our recently updated, popular Player Classic cabinet for the mechanical reel segment,” he added.
