Intralot hit by weak euro

alot reported a net loss for Q3 2015 despite recording an increased gross profit and EBITDA as the supplier suffered at the hands of a weak euro and increased tax payments.

Gross profit rose 4% year-on-year to €59.6m, while EBITDA improved 6% to €44.7m.

However "exchange differences", mainly relating to the firm's foreign subsidiaries, saw it report operating profit before tax of €372,000 for the period, compared to €7.1m for Q3 2014.

Greatly increased tax payments then led to a net loss of €8.7m, following a net profit of €2.9m for the equivalent quarter last year.

Revenue fell less than 1% year-on-year to €421.2m.

Intralot CEO Antonios Kerastaris declared he was "pleased" with the Q3 results, which were "in line with our expectations for stable growth".

He added: "EBITDA grew by 6% despite the ailing performance of Italy due to extraordinarily high, country specific, payouts, which led the Italian business to contribute marginally to our EBITDA, the weak performance of Azerbaijan, the fall-off of the Romanian contract and the effect of the World Cup last year in both the second and third quarters."

Consolidated revenues for the first nine months of 2015 improved 4% year-on-year to €1.4bn, while EBITDA rose slightly from €131.7m to €131.9m.

Gross profit was down 2% to €189.7m, while operating profit fell 34% to just short of €18m.

The firm recorded a net loss of €16.6m, compared to €3.3m for the same period in 2014.

Net debt as of 30 September 2015 was €484.1m, up from €381.4m on 31 December 2014.