In his address to the 2020 annual general meeting of Aristocrat Leisure, chairman Neil Chatfield said: “I am pleased to report that Aristocrat delivered strong performance over the 2019 fiscal year.”
“This further extends the business’ trajectory of consistent and high-quality profitable growth with record NPATA of over $894m. NPATA refers to net profit after tax and before acquired amortisation. Group revenue increased almost 23 per cent and 15 per cent in reported terms and in constant currency respectively, to a fresh all-time high of $4.4bn.
“This performance was driven by continued strong operational momentum across both land-based and digital businesses. Aristocrat’s key Americas, ANZ and digital operations all grew, off the back of increased and targeted investment in competitive product portfolios, particularly in terms of design and development and marketing and user acquisition in our digital business.
“Aristocrat’s strong cash flows, capacity to fund investment in further growth and continued reducing gearing levels were also evident in the fiscal 2019 result. Operating cash flow exceeded A$1bn for the first time. Net gearing reduced to 1.4 times at September 30, 2019, compared to 2.2 times at the announcement of the Big Fish acquisition in November 2017.
“This momentum allowed us to deliver another significant lift in earnings per share, reflected in a 22 per cent increase in total dividends for the year to 56 cents per share, consistent with our commitment to progressively grow dividends over time.”
