GGRAsia – L&W posts US$670mln 1Q revenue, board nods ASX listing

L&W posts US$670mln 1Q revenue, board nods ASX listing

May 10, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Casino equipment and online games provider Light & Wonder Inc (L&W) reported revenue of US$670 million for the first quarter of 2023, up 17.1 percent from a year ago. Such increase was “driven by growth across all of our businesses, including another quarter of record revenues for SciPlay and iGaming,” stated the company in a release on Tuesday.

Light & Wonder reported a net profit of US$27 million in the three months to March 31, compared to a US$67-million loss in the prior-year period.

The company’s quarterly consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 23.3 percent year-on-year, at US$249 million. The company said the adjusted EBITDA result had been primarily “driven by double-digit growth” across all of the group’s businesses and “improved margin”.

“We entered 2023 with strong momentum and delivered another quarter of double-digit topline growth with strong cash flows continuing to execute on our strategic plan and progress toward our long-term financial targets,” said Light & Wonder.

Light & Wonder also said on Tuesday that its board of directors had approved going ahead with a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), to complement its current listing on Nasdaq in the United States.

“The board believes there are substantial potential benefits for the company and its shareholders in pursuing a secondary listing on the ASX,” stated the firm on Tuesday.

It said such benefits included “enhancing the company’s profile in Australia,” one of the “leading markets” for its gaming business, and providing the company access to “new long-term Australian institutional investors that would complement its strong existing base of shareholders in the U.S. and Australia.”

Higher sales

In prepared remarks featured in the results release, the president and chief executive of Light & Wonder, Matt Wilson, said the group was “off to a strong start” in 2023.

“Our strategy and disciplined investments are driving enhanced returns as we continue to develop and execute on our robust product roadmap, building off the strong momentum that we saw in 2022,” he stated.

Mr Wilson added: “The teams executed several notable wins and key launches in the quarter, and we have a full pipeline of games that support progress toward our long-term targets.”

Gaming revenue for the reporting period stood at US$419 million, compared with US$355 million in the first quarter of 2022. The segment generated adjusted EBITDA of US$206 million, up from US$171 million a year earlier.

Such growth in the gaming segment was driven by “continued momentum” in machine sales, with such revenue rising 53.4 percent year-on-year, to US$158 million.

The company said it sold 7,678 gaming machine units in the three months to March 31, compared to 5,296 a year earlier. Such shipments included 3,621 units sold in the international market, including Asia Pacific, up from 1,914 machines in the prior-year quarter.

“Gaming operations maintained elevated average daily revenue per unit, while gaming systems continued strong momentum, growing 8 percent,” added the firm.

SciPlay achieved “record revenue” of US$186 million in the first three months of 2023, up from US$158 million a year ago, supported by “the core social casino business”. iGaming revenue reached “record quarterly revenue” of US$65 million, compared with US$59 million a year earlier.

The parent firm stated its net debt stood at US$3.00 billion as of March 31, slilghtly down on the prior quarter. Light & Wonder’s net debt leverage ratio had declined to 3.1 times at March-end, from 3.3 times as of December 31, “squarely in targeted range” of 2.5 times to 3.5 times.