Ainsworth Game Technology Keeps Dividends Suspended

Ainsworth Game Technology, the famous Australian gaming equipment manufacturer, has announced that the company won’t be paying any dividends to its shareholders due to the effects that the coronavirus pandemic has had on the business.

The company had suspended the payment of dividends in August due to the pandemic, but some were hoping that things would improve in the second half of the year.

The pandemic is not the only reason behind Ainsworth’s troubles, though. Earlier this year they reported a significant loss of AU$4 million for the last half of 2019. That was a pretty sharp decline for the company, considering that in the last half of 2018 they recorded a profit of 12.1 million Australian dollars.

Within the company’s financial report, Chairman Danny Gladstone stated: “Ainsworth’s FY20 results reflect the financial consequences experienced from COVID-19. For FY20, sales revenue was $149 million, a decline of 36% compared to $234 million in FY19.

With reduced trading in quarter four, the second half of the year contributed approximately 87% of this decline, which is traditionally the strongest period. Our opportunities to operate and sell new machines were inhibited as customers temporarily closed venues and cut capital expenditure programs.”

Lawrence Levy, Chief Executive Officer at Ainsworth, added an optimistic view: “The company’s operations have been significantly altered because of the pandemic, our entire workforce had to work remotely, maintaining daily contact with management, establishing new game feature parameters and creating a pipeline of new, innovative and intuitive core products.

Looking to fiscal year 2021 and beyond, I consider that the company is in a strong position to recover. We had just launched our new A-Star cabinets in February 2020, prior to the global lockdown. We are now starting to roll out this hardware regionally, with Australia, North and Latin America already receiving positive feedback and strong performance numbers from our initial installations.”

Last month, Ainsworth announced that it had signed a sales and service agreement with Novomatic, one of the most prominent casino equipment suppliers in the industry. That deal is supposed to bring new revenue streams for the two entities, especially from the Asia Pacific region.

Moreover, in September Ainsworth reached an agreement with SoftGamings an international business to business casino platform provider.

That deal gave the Australian company a chance to showcase their products for customers in Europe and the United Kingdom, but its effects on revenues might become more significant in 2021.

Source: “Ainsworth Game Technology Annual Report 2020“. Ainsworth Game Technology. October 28, 2020.