In its first regulatory filing of 2018, Ainsworth announced net profit figures of AUD$9.7m ($7.6m) during the six months to 31st December, less than half of the AUD$20.6m ($16.14m) reported during the same period of fiscal year 2017.
The company attributed the poor profit figures to a one-off adjustment of AUD$8.6 million ($6.74 million) made during the first half of fiscal year 2017, which reflected “the reversal of previously-recognized deferred taxes resulting from the treatment of foreign currency movements.”
Ainsworth’s total revenue during H1 2018 dropped by a modest 2% year-on-year to the AUD$120.3m ($94.3m) from the AUD$122.7m ($96.18m) reported during H1 FY2017.
In its filing, the company also noted that positive revenue growth from international markets was offset by ‘weaker domestic performance’.
Ainsworth’s international revenue grew by 2% during H1 2018 to AUD83.2m ($65.22m) in H1 2018, while its Australian market fell by 10% during the same period to AUD37.1 million ($29.08 million).
Company EBITDA dropped 22.9% year-on-year to AUD24.6m, while underlying EBITDA also fell by 10.3% year-on-year to AUD26.9m. Ainsworth’s total operating costs: which exclude cost of sales and financing costs dropped by 8.2% year-on-year to AUD56.3m.
Despite the company’s mixed results, Ainsworth Game Technology CEO Danny Gladstone remained bullish, releasing a prepared statement which said: “The first-half-of-fiscal-year 2018 results are in line with our expectations. We continue to make good progress in executing on our key strategies to grow and strengthen Ainsworth.”
“We have invested in new technologies and are increasing our range of innovative content. We have intensified our sales and marketing focus and with new jurisdictions, our international footprint is expanding. Our pipeline of contracted orders is strong. We expect to progressively grow market share and profitability across both international and domestic markets.”
Looking ahead to H2 2018, Gladstone added: “We enter the second half with good momentum and we are making continuing progress in growing in the Americas … We expect to increase our units on participation, driving high quality earnings and strong cash flow.”