Aristocrat Leisure CEO Trevor Croker announced today that the company delivered another record profit in 2018.
“Based on our preferred metric of NPATA, profit increased 34 per cent to $729.6m,” he said. “Seventeen per cent of the 34 per cent profit growth was delivered by the performance of existing businesses, 12 per cent came from digital acquisitions and the remaining five per cent was driven by our lower effective tax rate.
“Pleasingly, this result was achieved against a backdrop of broadly flat land-based markets. Industry leading talent, game content, hardware and technology, coupled with effective in-market execution focused on our highest value, strategic opportunities were once again key contributors to our performance.
“North America EBITA growth was driven by another outstanding performance in gaming operations, with units increasing 15 per cent to over 44,000 units, and a modest expansion in our market-leading average fee per day.
“Within our outright sales business we maintained ship share in an increasingly competitive market. Similarly, a record profit result in ANZ reflected our success in maintaining our market-leading share position, with great games, differentiated hardware and enhanced customer services.
“We maintain a firm commitment to continue to invest in innovation going forward, and leverage our growing scale and capability to lift efficiency and create capacity for sustainable growth. Finally, Aristocrat continues to have a strong and flexible balance sheet capable of supporting our strategic ambitions.”