Poker machine and gaming group Aristocrat Leisure lifted returns to shareholders in the year to September after reporting a strong rise in revenues which saw net earnings top $1 billion for the first time.
The Sydney-based multinational told the ASX on Wednesday that “normalised profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired intangibles (NPATA)” jumped 27% to $1.099.3 billion for the 2021-22 financial year (or a 20% rise in constant currency terms).
“This was driven by exceptional performance in North American Gaming Operations and global Outright Sales, despite supply chain disruptions and mixed operating conditions across key markets,” directors said in the earnings release.
Group revenue increased nearly 18% to $5.6 billion (or 12.0% in constant currency).
Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) of $1,850.9 million rose 20% on a reported basis and 14% higher on a constant currency basis.
The company will pay a final fully franked dividend of 26.0 cents per share, taking the full year fully franked dividends to 52.0 cents per share up 27% from 2020-21’s 41 cents per share.
That will take the total cash distribution to shareholders for the year to $660 million through dividends and on – market share buy-back.
The company said it was left with a net cash position of $564 million and liquidity of $3.8 billion at September 30.
All that though left the market unimpressed and the shares fell 5% to $35.98. That fall might see a new share buyback down the track.
CEO, Trevor Croker, said in the release that “Aristocrat’s performance underlines the ongoing implementation of our growth strategy. Throughout the year, we continued to invest in competitive product portfolios to drive further share growth across key segments, greater operational diversification and deeper business capability.
“Aristocrat delivered an increase in revenues of almost 18% year on year, and an annual profit of $1.1 billion that exceeded our 2019 financial year performance by approximately 23%. This highlights the strength of our post-COVID recovery and our ability to execute in a challenging environment.
“Strong performance in Aristocrat Gaming more than offset headwinds in the Pixel United business, again highlighting the increasing diversification and resilience of our Group.
“We have made further progress in our ‘build and buy’ strategy to scale in online RMG, with the launch of our new business, Anaxi.
“While we are focusing first on the North American i-Gaming vertical, we ultimately aim to be the leading gaming platform within the global online RMG industry. We will continue to invest behind this key adjacent growth opportunity as we build Anaxi over the medium-term.
“Our performance highlights the incredible resilience and commitment of our team of over 7,500 people around the world. I want to thank each of our people for their hard work, and their care for each other, as we navigated the conflict in Ukraine and other challenges across the year.
“… we believe that Aristocrat’s outstanding product portfolios, growing operational resilience and capability, along with a highly engaged team and strong culture, positions us well to maintain our momentum despite uncertain conditions,” Mr Croker added.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects continued “strong revenue and profit growth” from its Aristocrat Gaming segment.
Aristocrat said it will continue to seek opportunities for future growth, including markets in Poland, Spain and Canada, as well as bringing forward additional game development capabilities.
