“The continued momentum in all of our technology businesses drove record third-quarter earnings,” said Richard M. Haddrill, the company's CEO. “Another strong systems quarter reflects the continued demand for our Networked Floor of the Future technologies and vision highlighted by new customer contracts and demand for our iVIEW network that delivers interactive player content.”
“Our gaming equipment division shipped over 7,300 sale units in the current quarter, which included a significant number of sale units delivered to a major domestic lottery that were not recognized in revenue in the current quarter,” said Gavin Isaacs, the company's Chief Operating Officer.
“We are pleased with our steady increase in North America ship share, our ability to leverage our broad product portfolio for Class III, Class II, and central-determination markets, and the growth of international units to 25 percent of our total sale units in the current quarter. We attribute this success to our investments in game content and our recent investments in our international infrastructure,” he added.
Highlights of certain results for the nine months ended March 31, Gaming Equipment: Revenues increased 35 percent to approximately us$ 296.4 million as compared with the same period last year. New gaming device sales increased 35 percent to 19,037 units as compared with 14,131 units in the same period last year. ASP of new gaming devices, excluding OEM sales, increased 5 percent primarily due to product mix and price increases during the period.
Gross margin increased to 45 percent from 34 percent in the same period last year, primarily due to the increase in ASP discussed above, the elimination of lower margin OEM sales, and improved purchasing and manufacturing efficiencies due to increased
volumes and lower manufacturing costs due to the standardization of game platforms.
Talking about gaming operations, revenues increased 33 percent to approximately us$ 167.2 million as compared with the same period last year. Gross margin increased to 65 percent from 58 percent for the same period last year principally due to increases in participation and rental revenue with a relatively fixed cost of operating expenses.
Revenue and gross margin in fiscal 2007 included daily fees that relate to certain contracts which have been deferred in fiscal 2008 due to new contractual commitments made to customers. Approximately us$ 11.4 million in daily fees generated during the nine months ended March 31, were deferred pending delivery of the commitments.
In systems, revenues increased 55 percent to approximately us$ 152.5 million as compared with the same period last year primarily as a result of continued acceptance of the firm's products including iVIEW player-communication devices and Power Bonusing software.
The company now expects revenue for fiscal 2008 to exceed us$ 885 million, representing a 30-percent increase over fiscal 2007. It also forecasts an increase in the placement of premium daily-fee games and rental games, a modest increase in the number of gaming devices sold with continued margin improvements on game sales, and continued growth in its system business.