According to a release, the company posted $651 million (£513.9 million/€619.1 million) in Q4 revenue, down 4% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $290 million, an 8% decrease from last year. Its AEBITDA margin dropped from 46% to 44%.
IGT qualified the declines by noting it had “record product sales revenue in the prior year”. This most recent quarter, it said, was “the second highest quarter for product sales revenue in company history”.
For the full year ended 31 December, revenue was $2.5 billion, a 1% decrease YoY. IGT’s full-year AEBITDA of $1.1 billion was down 4% from 2023 ($1.2 billion). Its net debt, however, was reduced from $5.1 billion to $4.7 billion over that period.
Industry titan will be taken private
The results are a milestone for IGT as the last full-year figures it will report as an independent, public company. By the end of 2025 it will divest its lottery division and merge its gaming business with fintech and games supplier Everi. The $6.3 billion merger was facilitated last July by Apollo Global Management and the merged company will be taken private.
The Apollo deal was a sharp turn of events, as the two companies had already agreed to merge last February. Under that deal, the merged company would have stayed listed under the IGT name. Current IGT CEO Vince Sadusky was poised to head the new company. But under Apollo, the entity will be delisted and Sadusky was ousted in favour of former Aristocrat Gaming CEO Hector Fernandez.
Sadusky will now take over as CEO of the spun-off lottery business, which will remain public under a new name. Everi chairman Mike Rumbolz was poised to chair the new company. To this point, he has not been mentioned as part of Apollo’s plans.
“2024 was a year of momentous transformation with the conclusion of our strategic review and the announced sale of our Gaming & Digital business for $4.05 billion in cash,” Sadusky said in a statement. “Our unmatched capabilities in developing world-class lottery solutions and innovative game content support several important investments to drive long-term growth and shareholder returns. We are well-positioned to continue strengthening our global lottery leadership.”
Call centered around lottery segment
On an earnings call on Tuesday, Sadusky echoed his sentiments above and focused mainly on the lottery business.
“Anything that has to do with gaming and digital, we’ve done the internal work on separation,” he said. “We’re virtually completed with that internal work, so we feel very confident about being prepared for day one” of the new company.
A key point for investors was IGT’s bid for a contract extension with the Italian lottery, which will be pivotal to its future operations. It is due by 17 March and CFO Max Chiara said the process is moving along as it should. The Texas Lottery’s decision to ban courier services was also mentioned, but officials said this should not have material impacts.
Nick Khin and Gil Rotem, who currently head the IGT gaming and digital segments, will keep those roles in the management team of the new company. Neither spoke on the call on Tuesday. Darren Simmons, who oversees Everi’s fintech business, will also keep that role under Apollo.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/finance/igt-q4-full-year-results/
