Revenues
Through organic and acquisition-driven growth, sales revenues reached an all-time high of EUR 2,527.3 million during the 2017 fiscal year. This is an increase of 11.1 percent over the previous year.
The largest absolute increase was achieved in the area of gaming machine revenues which rose by EUR 210.9 million to EUR 1,239.8 million. In addition to the acquisition of Casino Royal in Germany in 2017, the operating companies in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy, in particular, contributed to this increase.
Significant revenue growth was also achieved with e-business revenues, which increased by EUR 32.5 million, as well as with betting revenues, which came in EUR 23.6 million higher than the previous year. There was, however, a decline in rental revenues of minus EUR 17.5 million (due to regulatory changes in Germany) and sales revenues (especially in Italy and the United Kingdom) of minus EUR 26.7 million.
EBITDA
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to EUR 586.8 million, compared to EUR 586.4 million in 2016. The operating profit (EBIT) decreased from EUR 265.3 million in 2016 to EUR 209.8 million in the yearunder review due to higher plannend and extraordinary depreciation and amortization. The increase in scheduled depreciation and amortization from EUR 296.4 million to EUR 331.0 million is mainly attributable to the companies acquired recently. Extraordinary depreciation and amortization increased by around EUR 22.4 million to EUR 55.7 million, compared to the same period last year. In addition to impairments in accordance with IAS 36 at the German companies due to changes in the regulatory framework conditions, an impairment requirement was determined for individual companies of the NOVOMATIC Lottery Solutions Group, which contributed significantly to this increase.
Equity Ratio
During the reporting period, equity decreased by EUR 47.3 million to EUR 1,328.9 million, of which EUR 91.4 million consisted of other shareholders’ shares. The company’s issued capital remained unchanged at EUR 26.6 million. The same applies to additional paid-in capital, which amounted to EUR 85.4 million. In addition to this, equity is comprised of reserves amounting to EUR 1,169.0 million, the revaluation reserve as per IAS 39 amounting to EUR 23.3 million and the currency translation adjustment amounting to EUR -66.8 million.
NetDebt/EBITDA
NetDebt/EBITDA increased from 1.2x in the previous year to 1.7x
Cash Flow
Across the Group, cash flow from operating activities totaled EUR 419.2 million in 2017, compared to EUR 429.1 million the previous year. The slight decline in operating cash flow is primarily attributable to the lower operating profit in the year under review. Compared to 2016, cash flow from operating activities was positively influenced by a lower cash outflow from the change in net working capital. While a rise in inventories had a negative impact on cash flow, increase in liabilities and provisions (including in connection with the NOVOMATIC Lottery Solutions Group) led to an improvement in operating cash flow.
Cash flow from investment activities improved marginally to EUR -516.7 million in the year under review, while the same figure for 2016 amounted to EUR -519.5 million. The position “Acquisition of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment” saw higher cash outflows, resulting particularly from the pre-production of gaming terminals in the German market. Overall, there were no significant changes against the previous year in the area of acquisitions.
Cash flow from financing activities amounted to EUR 109.6 million during the year under review, a considerable drop over the previous year’s value of EUR 474.0 million. In the previous year, the issue of a bond with a total volume of EUR 500.0 million and a capital increase of EUR 85 million led to a significant increase in cash and cash equivalents. In 2017, the cash flow from financing activities was reduced by the repayment of a bond with an issue volume of EUR 150 million, while the utilization of a credit line positively influenced the cash flow.
