SG appoints Barry Cottle as president and CEO

Thursday 3rd of May 2018

Scientific Games Corporation has promoted the head of its interactive division, Barry Cottle, to the position of president and CEO from June this year.

Barry Cottle, currently chief executive officer of SG Interactive is set to replace the current President and CEO, Kevin Sheehan on June 1, 2018 who will remain with the company as a senior advisor.

Barry Cottle first joined Scientific Games as chief executive, SG Interactive in August 2015 to lead the strategy and growth plans of the Interactive group. In just over two years, Barry led the team to double revenue growth and Scientific Games' efforts to enter Sports Betting and iLottery through the acquisition of NYX/OpenBet. Before Scientific Games, Mr. Cottle served as vice chairman of Deluxe Entertainment where he helped drive digital innovation including Deluxe's launch of Virtual Reality. Prior to that, Barry has held executive leadership roles at Zynga, Electronic Arts Inc., The Walt Disney Company and Palm Computing, Inc., helping lead these organizations to rapid growth in mobile and online markets by providing leading-edge products.

"I'm proud of what we have accomplished over the past two years. Our company is stronger than ever and growing across all our divisions. With the acquisition of NYX and the rapid growth of our entire interactive business, Scientific Games is poised to lead the future as the entire gaming industry transitions to new digital and mobile platforms. I want to thank the Scientific Games executive team, my friends and colleagues at MacAndrews & Forbes and all of our employees for their hard work and commitment. Barry has been a great partner, and I look forward to supporting his efforts to lead Scientific Games into the digital future," said Mr. Sheehan.

In the same press release, SG also announced the appointment of Tim Bucher, previously SVP and GM of the Consumer Solutions Group at Seagate Technology, as EVP and chief product officer across all Scientific Games' business divisions.

Tim Bucher joins the company as EVP and Chief Product Officer across all business divisions. Bucher is a Silicon Valley veteran who has created several successful companies which have either been taken public or acquired by tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and Seagate Technology over the last 3 decades. He has served in executive product roles directly for Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell learning from those iconic entrepreneurs how to innovate and grow businesses. Specializing in consumer software, hardware, and user experiences, Tim holds over 40 patents in networking technology, user interface design, computer and processor design as well as graphics and multimedia technologies.

18Q1 results

On Thursday, Scientific Games announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.

First quarter revenue rose 12 percent to $811.8 million, up from $725.4 million in 17Q1. The rise is reflecting the inclusion of $49.2 million in revenue from the NYX Gaming Group acquisition completed on Jan 5, 2018, along with growth in lottery revenue and social revenue.

Gaming revenue increased only one percent from the prior year period.

Net loss increased to $201.8 million from $100.8 million in the prior year, reflecting the impact of a $93.2 million loss incurred on debt financing transactions associated with refinancing in February this year.

"Our first quarter results reflect our strength as a global diversified gaming technology provider," said Kevin Sheehan, CEO and president of Scientific Games. "Our results reflect the significant success our team achieved during the quarter such as the inclusion of NYX and our refinancing, as well as the underlying robust business fundamentals, such as the 30 percent increase in gaming machine replacement sales. With improving momentum across all our businesses, we are excited by the prospects and opportunities to smartly grow our revenue and AEBITDA during the remainder of 2018 and beyond."

Michael Quartieri, chief financial officer of Scientific Games, said, "Our continued growth in revenue and AEBITDA, coupled with the lower interest costs resulting from our recent refinancing, establishes a solid platform for increased cash flows. We remain committed to our path of increasing cash flow, de-levering and strengthening our balance sheet."