Profits at Lottomatica jump 59 %

The firm announced that group revenues rose eleven percent to us$ 1.437 billion from us$ 1.292 billion for the first half of 2007 while first half earnings before tax were also up to us$ 617.8 million from the previous year's us$ 589.9 million. “This is a very impressive set of results, delivered in the face of a difficult economic climate,” said Lorenzo Pellicioli, Chairman and CEO for Lottomatica.

“We have shown that we can generate growth and profitability by leveraging off our financial flexibility, diversified product portfolio and market leadership to take advantage of new opportunities as well as continuing to focus on excellence in our core activities.”

Lottomatica recently signed a two-year extension with Ireland's National Lottery and extended a key contract with California's lottery. In addition, it launched keno in Poland, sports betting in Taiwan, interactive games for New Zealand and implemented the new GTech Go platform in Ghana.

“The group remains in a financially sound position and I am pleased to report that during the first half we have made very encouraging progress and we recorded an exceptional 59 percent earnings-per-share growth,” said Stefano Bortoli, Chief Financial Ofiicer for Lottomatica.

“Going into the second half of the year, we are confident of delivering results in line with our stated objectives. We have secured a number of new contracts and key contract extensions, which provide strong support for our top line going forward.”