A strong fourth quarter, buoyed by growth in recurring-revenue businesses and newer initiatives, including internet gaming and cashless wallet technology, enabled Mike Rumbolz to deliver his last quarterly report as Everi Holdings’ chief executive officer on a high note.
Revenue and earnings per share both rose from a year earlier and topped Wall Street forecasts.
Rumbolz, who announced his retirement in January, said Tuesday that Randy Taylor, who has been president and chief operating officer, will succeed him as CEO on April 1. The conference call didn’t reveal whether the company would add a new president and chief operating officer.
As the Nevada Independent reported, Rumbolz, Everi’s CEO since 2016, has spent nearly four decades as a Nevada gaming regulator, casino operator, gaming-equipment-company CEO, and corporate board member.
In a statement, Las Vegas-based Everi, a gaming-equipment and cash-access provider, said its net income was a record $89.4 million, or 88 cents per diluted share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $1.1 million, or 1 cent per diluted share, a year earlier.
The company said a 180% operating-income gain and a $63.5 million income-tax benefit related to deferred-tax asset-valuation allowance reversals, boosted net income.
The latest earnings-per-share figure topped the average 52 cents-per-share forecast of analysts surveyed by Seeking Alpha.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, a cash-flow measure that excluded one-time costs, rose 45% to a record $88.8 million from $61.2 million.
Revenue rose 50.8% to a quarterly record $180.4 million from $119.6 million and topped the $167.5 million forecast of Seeking Alpha-polled analysts.
Everi said it expects operating income will increase 8% to 13% year over year to push net income to a range beetween $125 million to $132 million and adjusted EBITDA to $368 million to $376 million for 2022.
Everi said installed games increased for the 11th straight quarter. (The 2021 year-end installed base was 17,000 units.) Record quarterly slot machine sales added up to 1,910 units.
In financial technology, Everi said it enabled more than 31 million transactions that delivered nearly $10 billion in value of funds to casino floors. Games-segment revenues rose 62.4% to a quarterly record $105.4 million, compared with $64.9 million.
Everi gained a foothold in Australia in January when it bought Melbourne, Australia-based Atlas Gaming for an undisclosed price. Everi said it plans to enter the historical-horse-racing business by year’s end.
“Our focus also includes our continued search for tuck-in acquisitions that we can integrate and scale up for future organic growth,” Rumbolz said.
For the full year ended Dec. 31 net income, increased to a record $152.9 million, or $1.53 per diluted share, reversing a net loss of $81.7 million, or 96 cents per diluted share. The full-year result included $34.4 million in pretax costs for debt extinguishment. Full-year revenue rose 72% to $660.4 million from $383.7 million.
Everi Holdings shares rose $1.15, or 5.29%, on Wednesday to close at $22.90 on the Nasdaq. The shares dipped 27 cents, or 1.18% to settle at $22.63 after hours.
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