Aristocrat full-year profit jumps 9.6pc

Digital and American businesses have helped gaming machine firm Aristocrat lift full-year profit and boost its dividend.

Poker machines in a Sydney casino. Pic: Chris Pavlich.

Gaming machine maker Aristocrat has lifted full-year profit 9.6 per cent and upped its final dividend, despite increased competition and flat markets.

For the full year to September 30, the company’s net profit after tax rose to $542.6 million.

Earnings before interest, tax and depreciation and amortisation shot up nearly 32 per cent to $1.3 billion.

“Aristocrat delivered strong, high quality earnings growth over the 2018 fiscal year, against a backdrop of mostly flat markets and increasing competitive pressures,” chief executive Trevor Croker said.

“Pleasingly, the result was driven by strong organic growth across our land-based businesses and (social casino) Product Madness, driven by an increasingly broad and competitive product portfolio together with effective execution and a focus on customers and innovation.”

The company declared a final dividend of 27 cents per share, fully franked, up from 20c a share last year.

Aristocrat’s Americas business booked a 16 per cent increase in net profit after tax and before amortisation to $US650m ($890m) while the ANZ business posted a 9 per cent rise in to $207m.

The company’s digital business saw net profit after tax and before amortisation spike 170 per cent to $US331m, with organic growth supported by the acquisition of gaming companies Plarium and Big Fish, which were finalised during the period.

“Plarium and Big Fish significantly increased Aristocrat’s presence in the high-growth social games market,” the company said.

“The acquisitions substantially lift the digital segment’s pro-forma earnings contribution to the group, and contribute additional diversity, scale and strength to Aristocrat’s global operations.”

For the full-year ahead, Aristocrat said it expects expansion across its gaming operations installed base and incremental gains in land-based sales in the US.

The company also anticipates corporate costs to increase in the 2019 fiscal year, as it builds infrastructure to grow the business.

Full-year 2019 earnings are expected to be skewed to the second half, reflecting the timing of digital game releases.

“Leveraging our strong balance sheet, operating cash flow generation and design and development capability, Aristocrat will continue to focus on unlocking growth in our core and in attractive adjacencies, for the benefit of our customers and shareholders,” Mr Croker said.