Intralot 26.5 percent decline posted

Written On  3/31/11 By Lenny Wasman :

Greek land and internet gambling supplier Intralot has posted serious declines in its 2010 numbers, reporting that net profit dropped 26.5 percent, mainly through by write-downs.
 
Net profit dropped to Euros 36.6 million (2009: $51.47 million), burdened by write-downs and provisions of Euro 5 million, although the latter was considerably less than that experienced in 2009, when there were charges of Euro 18.5 million.
 
Intralot offers gaming platforms and operates sports betting and video lotto machines for online poker sites and casinos in about 50 countries. Its domestic business in Greece includes the state-majority held monopoly operator OPAP.
 
Management comments that it is currently giving consideration to moving away from non-performing operations internationally in order to cut costs and rebalance the business.
 
"Over the past five years Intralot has invested more than Euro 600 million in new opportunities and projects," chief executive Constantinos Antonopoulos said in a statement, adding that from now on the group will focus on delivering value to investors by streamlining operations and improved efficiency.
 
Group sales rose 23.5 percent to Euro 1.1 billion, at the high end of market expectations, boosted by the acquisition earlier in the year of a strategic stake in a Jamaican lottery operator and new operations in the United States and Italy.