Aristocrat expects 30 pct profit surge in FY17

Sunday 26th of February 2017

Gaming supplier Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. says it expects a 20 to 30 percent growth in net profit after tax for the 2017 fiscal year.

The forecast was made by Aristocrat’s CEO-elect, Trevor Croker during an AGM held on Monday, February 27.

The gaming veteran will become Aristocrat’s new CEO and managing director come Wednesday, replacing the current boss Jamie Odell.

Mr. Croker took the opportunity to share his vision for the business during the AGM.

“I believe Aristocrat must evolve our focus to fully leveraging our momentum, and transforming our business over time… We must also aggressively pursue value-adding opportunities, including adjacent segments and markets.”

Referring to company’s growth strategy, Mr. Croker said Aristocrat will focus on growing and leveraging its core business, whilst “investing wisely to capture opportunity in adjacent segments and markets, including Class III stepper, VLT and Class II video.”

“Aristocrat has no presence in each of these adjacent segments, and our increased capability and momentum gives us confidence to attack these with focus and vigor over the coming years,” he said.

In January, the gaming company reported normalized profit after tax of A$398 million (US$298 million) for the period ending September 30, 2016, representing a 69 percent increase year-on-year.

Revenue increased by more than 34 percent, “driven by growth across all key segments in broadly flat markets.”

Aristocrat said it witnessed strong growth on its Americas business, which saw a A$84.8 million improvement in post-tax profit. Revenue for its Americas business went up 28 percent to A$1.3 billion.

“The growth was supported by improved outright sales share, growth in Class II gaming operations footprint and significant share, fee per day profit growth from the Class III premium gaming operations business,” said the company in its filing at the time.

Its Australia and New Zealand business also saw significant share gains, driven by the Helix cabinet, penetration of Lightning Link and Players Choice family of games, and continued performance of the broader Aristocrat game portfolio, said the supplier.

Aristocrat said revenue increased 31 percent to A$412 million in its ANZ business.

International class III business, which involves Asia Pacific, posted revenue of A$181.1 million, an increase of 29.1 percent year-on-year.

Its digital business also saw strong growth, due to the continued success of Heart of Vegas on Facebook, IOS, and Android. Digital revenue grew 82 percent to A$269 million.

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