Scientific Games Reports Results
NEW YORK – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Scientific Games Corporation (Nasdaq: SGMS) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2005. Revenues were $184.6 million compared to the $185.5 million reported in the first quarter of 2004. Net income was $21.0 million or $0.23 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2005 compared to $20.4 million or $0.22 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2004.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - see the following EBITDA reconciliation) was $51.3 million in the first quarter of 2005 compared to $53.0 million in the first quarter of 2004.
Scientific Games benefited from very strong instant lottery ticket sales both in the US and abroad and significant increases in branded ticket sales. The Company noted that the loss of the Florida online lottery contract prior to its acquisition of IGT OnLine Entertainment Systems (OES) in 2003 and unusually high non-recurring equipment sales in the first quarter of 2004, made the first quarter 2005 comparisons difficult.
Lorne Weil, chairman and CEO, said, "We are very pleased with these results. The first quarter comparisons were very challenging because we only had one month left on our Florida online lottery contract in January 2005. In addition, during the first quarter of last year, we shipped lottery equipment worth over $20 million to one customer. Taken together, the loss of Florida online revenue and the one time equipment sales represented about $9 million of EBITDA; so absent these events, the "recurring " revenue of the Company demonstrated very strong growth overall in the first quarter."
"In the US we generated a 15% increase in instant ticket sales - exceeding the industry average of 12% - and prepaid mobile phone card sales were up 10%," Mr. Weil continued. "MDI product sales were excellent - especially the $10,000,000 Hold 'Em Poker(R) game in Massachusetts. EBITDA generated by our Cooperative Services activity increased by 40% year to year. Our international expansion strategy is working extremely well. Instant ticket retail sales in Italy are now at a $2.0 billion annual rate, sales in Latin America are improving, and we now benefit from the acquisition of Honsel, the exclusive instant ticket supplier to all sixteen lotteries in Germany."
During the first quarter, Scientific Games launched Puerto Rico's new online lottery and followed that with the launch on May 2nd of the new online lottery system for Colorado. Mr. Weil said, "We continued working to incorporate our program of best practices and technology into some of the OES online lottery systems. The launch of the newly converted online lottery system in Puerto Rico with 1,900 new terminals was successful, as was the conversion launch in Colorado with 2,500 terminals. We are also very excited about the recently announced agreement with the Massachusetts Lottery to introduce The Daily Race Game(TM), our new monitor game that will run on the keno network."
"The excellent year to year performance of our lottery businesses was somewhat offset by a decline in the racing related business, with pari-mutuel systems and venue management together accounting for a decline in quarterly EBITDA of about $3.9 million year over year. Contributing significantly to this was a decline in North American thoroughbred racing handle of about 6% in the first quarter; most of this decline occurred in January and February for a variety of non-recurring causes. By the end of March, North American handle had begun to strengthen noticeably.
Outlook
Mr. Weil said, "It is our belief that by constantly developing new content for our instant and online lottery games as well as for our pari-mutuel customers, we will continue to deliver outstanding results. By differentiating ourselves from the competition with superior game sales, we believe customers will choose Scientific Games more often."
"As we said in our fourth quarter and year end report, we have every reason to believe that instant lottery ticket sales will continue to be very strong both in the US and abroad. We expect that over the coming months we will be able to expand the number of instant games we are offering in Italy, and that sales in Germany will increase over time as we introduce those lotteries to our programs. Last week we announced the news that we and our partner, Indra, have won a full lottery facilities management contract worth $37.3 million to provide both online and instant lottery products and services to the autonomous region of Catalonia in Spain. We also signed the $12 million contract awarded to us by Pacific Online Systems that commences in the second half of 2005. Currently, we are pursuing several other important international agreements that give us great optimism where the future is concerned."
"In the US we will have the opportunity to compete for some significant new business this year. Although we do not usually discuss specific procurements, an update on the California and Ohio instant lottery ticket bids is in order due to some recent events. The California Lottery is still expected to award its instant ticket contract this month despite having made changes to its Request for Proposal. As some will have read, the Ohio Lottery has already posted a decision on its website awarding Scientific Games its instant ticket contract. We are waiting for additional details from the Lottery before issuing a press release. Besides these, there are at least ten other opportunities this year to win new incremental lottery and video lottery control system business so we are very enthusiastic about our prospects."
