WMS reports impressive increases in interactive revenues
Friday August 30,2013 : REVENUES UP AT GAMBLING SUPPLY COMPANY
WMS reports impressive increases in interactive revenues
Illinois-based land and online gambling content company WMS Industries, parent group of Williams Interactive, has posted its fiscal Q3-2013 results with the following highlights:
* Revenue of $202.8 million, up 14 percent on a quarterly sequential basis
* Net income of $13.5 million
* A $0.04 per diluted share impact for costs related to the pending acquisition of WMS by Scientific Games Corporation
* Direct costs down 6 percent.
* Cash flow from operating activities increased $11.3 million, or 23 percent, over the prior year
* Net cash used in investing activities decreased by $20.0 million, or 25 percent, from the comparable quarter a year ago.
Specifically online activities produced the following highlights:
* Launch of the new, enhanced Play4Fun Network interactive product that provides a B2B white-label, free-play iGaming and marketing platform for land casino operators, with the first installation at the Snoqualmie Casino in Washington.
* Extended availability of the Jackpot Party Social Casino across mobile and tablet devices to include Android based mobile devices.
* Through the Williams Interactive subsidiary, extended the availability of WMS slot games to several additional European real-money online casino and bingo sites.
Brian R. Gamache, chairman and CEO of the company, said that WMS has enjoyed success during the quarter in leveraging its land game development skills to create new interactive products and services.
This had resulted in interactive revenues reaching $57 million compared to just $4 million in fiscal 2012.
"We are highly encouraged by the successful development efforts and growth initiatives of our interactive products and services during the past year and expect to achieve additional growth in fiscal 2014 as we further monetize key game launches and realize ongoing benefits from the recent expanded availability of our Jackpot Party Social Casino in tablet and mobile device channels," said Gamache.
"We are confident that our interactive gaming initiatives and distribution opportunities for our content and games in these growing channels is a source of significant long-term growth potential for the company."
Revenues from interactive products and services, net of platform fees, increased nearly fifteen-fold to $17.4 million from $1.2 million in the prior-year quarter, the company reported.
The increase reflects the significant growth and monetization achieved during the last year with the Jackpot Party Social Casino, organic growth in WMS' UK-based online casino and in the play of WMS slot games on multiple European real-money online casinos.
"During the June quarter, growth initiatives were strategically paused in the company's social gaming operations to enable the expansion of an enhanced server and network infrastructure to facilitate further future growth, particularly given the introduction of gaming products for mobile platforms," Gamache reports.
"Following the successful network upgrade and expansion, daily active users (DAU) on Jackpot Party Social Casino have increased over 35 percent thus far in the September quarter compared to the June quarter across all platforms to new record levels reflecting popularity of play on mobile devices, while maintaining high rates of monetization that are believed to be comparable to the industry's leading social casino sites.
