Operator News

Spain – CIRSA manages €100.6m of operating profit in the third quarter

By Phil - 22 November 2021

Spanish operator CIRSA managed to generate €100.6m of operating profit in the third quarter of 2021. The capacity in productive hours from July to September stood at 89 per cent, notably improving from the 62.4 per cent of the previous quarter

From July to September, operating income was €335m. In the first nine months of 2021, the company accumulated an Ebitda of €210.3m and operating income of €738.9m. These results reflect strict compliance with the objectives included in the contingency and commercial plans implemented to face the pandemic situation.

For the quarter as a whole, operating hours amounted to 89 per cent, representing an increase of 42.6 per cent compared to the second quarter of this year. This improvement was produced by the gradual and heterogeneous reduction of restrictions in eight of the nine countries in which the company operates, since Morocco kept operations closed.

The improvement of restrictions in Spain had a positive impact on all the subsectors of casinos, bingo halls, lounges and hospitality, where the limitations of capacity and hours had created a strong impact on the activity as a whole. Thus, in the third quarter there was an improvement in income in the hospitality sector of 8% compared to the same period in 2019; in the casinos subsector, 100 per cent of said income was reached in September compared to a conventional year; while Sportium reached quotas for prepandemic activity between July and September.

In Latin America, with more intense restrictions than in Europe, a quarterly average of operating hours of 75.5% was achieved. All in all, 85 per cent of the Ebitda of a conventional pre-covid quarter was achieved.

Currently, Spain and Italy operate at 100 per cent productive hours, while the Latin American countries reach an average of 90.4 per cent, a percentage that the company expects will continue to increase in the coming months.

In September, casinos in Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Spain managed to reach and even exceed 100% of 2019 revenues due to the almost total reduction of time and capacity restrictions and due to the optimal effectiveness of the division’s business and efficiency plans .

Panama also had a rapid improvement in September, while Peru and Costa Rica remained stable due to the greater severity of restrictions.

The slots division achieved a positive third quarter in terms of revenue, maintaining the recovery line of the previous quarter thanks to the great acceptance of the Manhattan, Kong-Chita or Pharaoh’s Gold models from the UNIDESA industrial division, accompanied by a decrease time restrictions and bar consumption in hospitality establishments.

Likewise, the division managed very effectively both the commercial and contingency plans inherent to the current situation.

The high level of vaccination in the country allowed a stabilization of economic and commercial activity, thus consolidating the recovery of income in both VLT and AWP machines. It should be remembered that, since mid-August, Italy established the mandatory nature of the Green Pass to access, among others, the hospitality establishments and maintained the restrictions regarding capacity in the rooms, also during the third quarter.

The reduction of restrictions at the national level and a constant adaptation of the business plans contributed to the progressive improvement of the results of the Halls division, with 100 per cent of the premises open that continued to maintain all sanitary security measures and protocols .

In the third quarter, and despite the entry into force of the advertising restrictions, Sportium managed to achieve a level of activity similar to that of a conventional year, thanks to significant growth in the digital channel, as well as the normalization of opening hours of the points of sale.

In the third quarter, the Bingo division had all the establishments open, although with time and capacity restrictions in some Autonomous Communities. Despite this, the division achieved positive results thanks to the various commercial actions and the trust transmitted to customers through the “Play Safe” Plan on health prevention measures.

Mexico continued with the most severe restrictions of all markets, putting in value the adaptability of the commercial plans that allowed to generate, recover and maintain the customer base, with all the sanitary guarantees.

The industrial division consolidated its leadership in the Hospitality channel with the Manhattan Advanced model and with sales figures approaching the prepandemic stage. The multi-game product offering was completed with the Compact cabinet for Manhattan, which, while maintaining each and every one of the functionalities of the original model, allows machines to be located in smaller spaces. In the third quarter, the new Kong-Chita mixed machine was presented for the Hospitality channel, as well as the new Lucky 8 plus roulette for the salons subsector. The Interactive systems area continued its deployment of Forward Systems in classrooms and bingo halls in all the Autonomous Communities.