Revenue, earnings both up at Bally Technologies

The US casino game equipment and online games technology provider Bally Technologies has claimed a record breaking fourth quarter with EPS up 22 percent to 95 cents as sales climbed 8 percent to $264.4 million.

During the quarter Bally acquired SHFL Entertainment (SHFL) for $1.3 billion, expanding its influence into Canada and S. Africa, and continued to roll out online gambling projects and content.

Highlights of the report, released Thursday included:

* Revenue: $264.4 million (up 7.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012)

* Earnings: $64.6 million (up 32.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012)

* Earnings per share: 95 cents (up 55.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012)…all quarterly records. The fourth quarter was the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings-per-share growth.

* Record systems revenue of $252 million, a 19 percent increase over the previous year.

* The wide-area progressive base grew by 38 percent and produced record revenue for the year.

* 8 percent decline in slot machine sales. Executives said game sales were down because fewer casinos opened this year.

* Three new brands set to be launched at the Global Gaming Expo convention in Las Vegas in September.

Bally president and CEO Ramesh Srinivasan said:

“Fiscal 2013 was a truly momentous year in Bally’s history. We made enormous progress in many different ways, including continued growth in wide-area progressive units; record gaming operations revenue; significant success in new markets like Canada, Illinois and South Africa; establishing new revenue records in systems while setting up systems for further growth in the years ahead; and the launch of Bally content in regulated online jurisdictions. These achievements position us well for continued growth in fiscal 2014 and beyond.”

A company spokesman said that Bally is on track to meet 2014 expectations, but warned that Q1 will be weaker than Q2.