International Game Technology Plc (IGT) has released its financials for the first quarter of 2019 and, as has been seen with a lot of gaming companies recently, there is some good news and some bad news. Profits are up year-on-year, but revenues are down.
NYSE-listed IGT announced its results yesterday in London and specified that it had picked up a net profit of $40.3 million for the quarter. This was a substantial increase over the $103.2 million it lost in the first quarter of last year. However, revenue dipped 5%, falling from $1.21 billion to $1.14 billion year-on-year.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) dropped, as well in the quarter. Dropping 4%, it sunk to $416.67 million, compared to the $436.16 million IGT reported for the same period last year.
According to IGT CEO Marco Sala, in a prepared statement submitted with the earnings report, “Our first quarter results confirm the consistent growth profile of our global lottery business and the progress we’ve made in sales of gaming machines.”
The bulk of IGT’s earnings come from its operations in Italy, which accounted for $437 million. These operations include lottery products and services and the segment dropped 9.5% year-on-year.
North American operations, also comprised primarily of lotteries, accounted for revenue of $296 million. This was flat and consistent with what was seen last year, down just 1% from the $240 million it reported for the first quarter of 2018.
The good news is that the company saw a 40.9% increase in the number of new machines it delivered to international markets. The majority of them were Crystal Series cabinets. Sala explained, “It was a strong quarter for gaming machine shipments. Total global units were 20 percent greater than in the first quarter of 2018.”
IGT hasn’t seen much of a change in its debt. The earnings report indicates that the net debt position remains at about $7.71 billion as of the end of the quarter, only slightly down from the $7.76 billion that was reported at the end of last year.
As a result, shares in IGT dropped about 1.8% yesterday. When trading ended, the price was about $13.83 a share, but investors will still receive a bonus. An interim cash dividend of $0.20 on ordinary shares has been approved by the board of directors and will be payable on June 17 to all shareholders on record as of June 3.
