SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The governance of New York-listed gambling/lottery technology and systems provider IGT Plc has published its full-year 2018 results, underlying marked improvements within its North American lottery division maintained against a tougher international back-drop.
Updating the market, IGT reports stable group revenues of $4.8 billion (FY2017: $4.9bn), despite the company recording a tough Q4 2018 closing, in which consolidated revenues declined 4% to $1.26 billion (FY2017: $1.33bn), set against a tough 2017 comparative period featuring exceptional sports betting results and low % payouts within Italy.
Detailing by product/market breakdowns, IGT reports mixed results across its diverse commercial pipeline.
The technology group reports a tough year for its international division which reports KPI and Metric drops across all core products, recording a 7% decline a in revenues to $820 million – accompanied by a 13% operating income decline to $142 million (FY2017: $164m).
IGT counters its international declines, reporting robust North American lottery growth of $1.2 billion in group revenues, delivering an operating income of $297 million (FY2017: $289m).
Closing 2018 accounts, IGT governance narrows losses to $21 million(FY2017: $1 billion), with the company accounting for a $120 million of non-cash impairment charges.
Marco Sala, CEO of IGT, explained: “Our 2018 results are in line with the improved outlook we provided in October. The year was characterised by strong global lottery performance, resilience in Italy, and progress in North America gaming.
“We’ve established solid foundations to build on – securing large, long-term lottery contracts in key markets, and executing a full refresh of our gaming machine cabinet and content portfolio. These efforts will translate into improved free cash flow beginning in 2019.”
