IGT Plc remains confident of achieving its 2022 financial objectives, but has ‘tightened its full-year revenue outlook’ to reflect currency fluctuations and the impact of its ongoing business transformation.
Publishing its consolidated Q2 2022 results, IGT registered a 2% decline in period corporate revenues to $1.02bn.
The weakened headline performance was attributed to an 11% sales decline of IGT’s Global Lottery unit, which recorded Q2 revenues of $648m (Q2 2021: $725m).
IGT highlighted that its Global Lottery unit had been matched against a comparative period that had profited from “$70m in prior-year benefits primarily from the closure of gaming halls in Italy”.
Period positives saw IGT’s Global Gaming Unit (gaming machines) maintain its strong commercial momentum in the US and Canada, registering revenues of $330m, up 21% on corresponding 2021 results of $274m.
The period performance of IGT Digital remained stable at $43m, as the division looks to be refreshed by the upcoming H2 integration of newly acquired iSoftBet games and aggregator solutions.
The Q2 slowdown saw IGT register a 7% decline in EBITDA to $409m (Q2 2021: $442m) as period operating income was declared $228m – reflecting a further 7% decline on 2021 bottom-line results of $244m.
Impacting income results, Q2 trading saw IGT declare a $150m non-operating expense that has been reserved for the ‘likely loss of the ongoing litigation’ made against former social gaming subsidiary Double Down Interactive.
Providing a year-to-date update, IGT corporate revenue performance remains stable at $2.05bn. However, group operating income has been knocked-back to $480m (YTD2021: $504m).
Long-term financial objectives saw IGT continue lower its corporate net-debt to $5.7bn – with the company improving its cash-flow liquidity to $2.1bn.
Moving into H2 trading, IGT has tightened its revenue outlook by $100m to a target of $4.1-to-$4.2bn – primarily reflecting changes in global currency rates and impacts of the divestment of its Italian B2C business.
A transformed IGT maintains confidence in delivering $850-to-$950m in earnings, in which it plans to reward investors with a full-year reward of $135 million deployed for cash dividends and share repurchases.
“Strong customer and player demand for IGT’s products and solutions drove some of our strongest profit results ever in the second quarter and first half of the year,” said Vincent Sadusky, CEO of IGT.
“Our business profile is supported by significant recurring revenue streams backed by long-term contracts and resilient end markets, providing a solid foundation on which to grow. We are laser-focused on executing our strategic objectives and creating compelling value for our stakeholders.”