Sokratis Kokkalis, founder and chief executive of Intralot SPA, has underscored the technology group’s ‘business priority’ to bolster and accelerate all North American units, services and customer contracts.
Having retaken leadership of the Athens-listed group last November, Kokkalis presented Intralot’s new strategic vision to investors at the firm’s AGM on Tuesday 29 June.
Despite facing ongoing COVID-19 adjustments across its geographic make-up, Intralot had delivered better than anticipated results for its 2021 trading – as Kokkalis noted a much-needed stable trading period following year-on-year significant transitions for the company, which had shaken by the loss of its main technology contract in Turkey.
“Group’s results for the first quarter were extremely good and we expect that the results for the second quarter will be just as good and according to the business plan, providing us the opportunity to strengthen its position in strategic markets through the utilization of our technology and experience in the gaming industry.” Kokkalis remarked to investors.
Supporting the continued transformation of Intralot, Kokkalis confirmed that Intralot governance had re-negotiated the firm’s fiscal duties, as Intralot transfers its 2021 unsecured debt payments to a 2024 lock-up agreement.
In addition, Intralot has secured a new loan facility arrangement worth €147.6m ($175.46m) with the goal of supporting the firm’s liquidity to fund North American projects.
The firm further noted that its financing will be safeguarded as “participation limits will be reached for the agreement with bondholders to be executed in a “consensual manner, without recoursing to court proceedings”
Q1 trading results outlined the company’s North America ‘Intralot INC’ unit as the technology group’s new top-line growth driver, delivering a +81% upturn in EBITDA, significantly outpacing its established European performance.
Kokkalis accelerates Intralot’s North American charge, as the firm’s technology competitors of their commercial strategies – noted by yesterday’s announcement by Scientific Games that it would divest its lottery and sports betting technology units.
“Our main priority is now our subsidiary in North America, which has brought the best results to the Group and participates in its debt restructuring, as well as the exploitation of opportunities in other developed markets where the Group has comparative advantages leveraging in our experience and new product portfolio.” Kokkalis concluded.
“Finally, I would like to thank our employees and all partners for their resilience and perseverance, in order to reach an agreement with the Bondholders.”