Supplier News

Australia – Ainsworth warns of pre-tax profit fall

By Phil - 18 November 2016

Australian slot manufacturer Ainsworth Game Technology has warned that pre-tax profit will fall to $15m from $35m a year ago due to continuing challenging local industry conditions.

It expects a revival though boosted by the release of new games, including Pacman, should help improve the group’s financial performance in Australia and North America.

The company said that during 2016, sales were affected by customer purchasing patterns changing but said that the second half of the year should be ‘much better.’

Chief Executive Danny Gladstone said: “The release of a new range of games on the technically-advanced A600 at the Australasian Gaming Exhibition in August 2016 has been well received and should, over time, provide momentum to improve our domestic results. The A600 is maintaining floor space and more product variants and additional hardware configurations will be launched in the New Year.”
Mr Gladstone predicted that in 2017, Ainsworth’s international revenues, which account for over 70 per cent of the total, would grow due to new games and the envisaged benefits from the takeover by Novomatic.

Having been shown at the G2E Las Vegas in October, the A640 slot cabinet will be released for sale in North America next month.

Ainsworth President for North America Mike Dreitzer added: “The response from customers has been tremendous. Several casino operators commented that they thought it was one of the best new cabinets shown at G2E. The A640 launch follows on the early success we have seen with the launch of our A600 dual screen cabinet. We had an amazing G2E season with tremendous customer engagement. We also officially opened our new 291,000-square-foot North American headquarters during the past few months. Placing the A640 on casino floors across the country will continue our momentum as we head into 2017 poised for continued growth.”