With an eye on the casual game market, that included the soft launch of Solitaire Pets Adventure in April and a game expected from its in-house game studio, casino video game maker SciPlay looked optimistically ahead during its first-quarter earnings call.
The Las Vegas-based company that makes games for mobile and web platforms posted rises in earnings per share and revenue for the three months ended March 31. SciPlay is a publicly traded subsidiary of gaming equipment provider Scientific Games.
In a conference call with analysts and journalists, SciPlay CEO Josh Wilson said the company remains focused on improving its social casino games portfolio. He said the company’s Quick Hit game, for example, is being redesigned to deliver live casino thrill and authenticity.
SciPlay thrived when the coronavirus pandemic turned many Americans into distraction-seeking shut-ins. Wilson said engagement hasn’t diminished even with restrictions easing and more people preparing to return to workplaces.
“The good news is as things have opened up as the world has continued to get back to normal, we’ve seen actually more engagement inside of our games quarter-over-quarter,” Wilson said. “We’re actually seeing our games take over and people are playing them as a form of entertainment whether or not they’re going back to work.”
SciPlay said its net income was $5.3 million in the quarter, or 21 cents per diluted share, up from net income of $4.4 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.
The latest results missed the 24-cents-per share average forecast of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose 27.9% to $151 million from $118.3 million and topped the $144.6 million forecast of Zacks-polled analysts.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a cash flow measure that excludes one-time costs, rose 31.9% to $45.9 million from $34.8 million.
SciPlay shares fell 13.27 percent in regular trading on the Nasdaq on Monday, dropping $2.41 to $15.75. The shares sank further after hours, dipping 45 cents or 2.86% to reach $15.30 at 6 p.m. PDT.
SciPlay CFO Mike Cody said the company expects to spend $6 million to $7 million on user acquisition and $3 million to $4 million in additional research and development efforts in 2021, especially as the company builds out the team to develop its next casual genre game.
Cody added that SciPlay would watch for possible merger-and-acquisition partners and said the market is robust, though he named no names.
“We’re looking for companies that have simple core loops that have similar demographics that have matching cultures that we think we can expand and then grow with together,” he said.
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