The Las Vegas-based supplier’s continuing operations, which represents SG’s gaming, SciPlay division and iGaming businesses, saw revenue grow nearly 21% year-on-year for the fourth quarter 2021.
However, when including its discontinued operations, which represents its lottery and sports betting businesses, revenue was up 15%, driving its full year total to more than $3bn, an over 20% increase from 2020.
What’s more, SG’s net income for Q4 was positive, amounting to $99m in total, of which 62.6% ($62m) came from its continuing operations. This was after an $84m loss for fourth quarter 2020 from its combined operations.
Likewise, full year net income showed a similar trend, turning positive for 2021 after a loss for 2020.
Combined, this amounted to $390m for last year, though only $24m came from continuing operations, but this was a marked improvement over 2020’s $548m total loss, which was driven by an $801m loss from its continuing operations.
SG also reported an increase in free cash flow (FCF), coming to $443m for 2021 from its combined operations, a 138% increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, total debt was down, falling from over $9bn to $8.7bn as of 31 December.
Gaming performance, SG said, was primarily driven “by North America premium gaming operations and the market recovery.”
SciPlay, meanwhile, recorded healthy revenue for 2021, amounting to $606m on a full year basis, a 4% increase from 2020’s $582m.
SG has reflected its lottery and sports betting businesses as discontinued since Q3 2021, selling the former to Endeavor and the latter to Brookfield Business Partners.
During SG’s Q4 and full year earnings call, CEO Barry Cottle remarked: “We are very pleased with the strong performance we achieved in the quarter, which capped what was an outstanding year.
“As we reflect on what a difference the past year has made for our organisation, we sit here today with an enviable position with incredibly strong financials and with a rapidly transformed balance sheet.”
