GGRAsia – IGT, Everi tie-up offers compelling rev synergies: Sadusky

IGT, Everi tie-up offers compelling rev synergies: Sadusky

Mar 13, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

The announced spinoff of the global gaming and PlayDigital segments of International Game Technology Plc (IGT), to merge those businesses with another gaming technology supplier, Everi Holdings Inc, provides “compelling revenue synergies across products and geographies”.

That is according to Vince Sadusky (pictured), IGT’s chief executive, in comments on Tuesday during the conference call with investment analysts to discuss the firm’s fourth-quarter earnings. The company had said it achieved “record” adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2023, at nearly US$1.78 billion, up 6.9 percent from the prior year.

During the call, Mr Sadusky stated: “The decision [to separate the businesses] was the result of a strategic evaluation with the goal of unlocking the value of our portfolio.” He will lead the new, combined, entity.

According to the executive, IGT shareholders “will retain 100 percent ownership of the predictable growth and resilience of a global lottery pure play, while owning 54 percent of a faster-growing gaming, digital, and fintech business”.

Mr Sadusky said during the conference call, that the separation would allow for “more focused operating and capital allocation strategies,” as well as capital structures “that are optimised for different business models, and increased flexibility to pursue organic and inorganic growth strategies”.

According to the executive, lottery peers trade between 12 and 18 times enterprise value (EV) to EBITDA compared to IGT, “at just six times”.

Gaming peers trade between 11 and 13 times EV/EBITDA, observed Mr Sadusky. “The new gaming business will have a similar scale and growth trajectory as its peers, and that’s before the benefit of potential revenue synergies,” he added.

While IGT “has a broad global product offering across Class III, VLTs, iGaming, and casino management systems,” Everi’s business “is focused on North America, primarily with Class II games and extensive fintech capabilities,” noted Mr Sadusky.

“Together, we can generate touch points across the entire player journey from the casino floor to mobile,” he added. “The business has an attractive recurring revenue model with recurring revenue streams from gaming operations, iGaming, and fintech solutions, representing over 60 percent of pro forma revenue.”

The executive said the group expected revenue “to grow at a mid single-digit compound annual growth rate through 2026,” with adjusted EBITDA “increasing at an even stronger high single-digit rates”.

He added: “We’re looking at, just on a pro forma basis, revenue of US$2.6 billion, EBITDA of more than US$1 billion, roughly 60 percent of that recurring, and an install base of somewhere around 70,000 units.”