Pollard Q1 results reflect “strong demand” for services

John Pollard, co-CEO of Pollard, said that the results “reflected the underlying strong demand” for Pollard’s products in the first quarter of the year.

“We are very optimistic this demand will continue and believe our strong partnership with our lottery and charitable gaming customers will allow us to help them continue to grow and generate significant funds for their good causes,” he said.

Pollard noted ongoing issues with Pollard’s instant ticketing system, which saw its margins negatively impacted by challenges that occurred throughout 2022.

“As previously noted, major challenges in our instant ticket business continued, as the accumulated effect of significant cost increases on our major inputs – paper, ink, packaging, freight – during 2022 fully impacted our margins this quarter,” Pollard said.

First quarter results

Most of the revenue came from Pollard’s US segment, which generated $81.4m of the total. International revenue totalled at $28.3m, while Canada made up the remaining $14.7m.

In terms of Pollard’s product lines, revenue from its lottery segment was $92.2m. Charitable revenue was $18.6m, while revenue from egaming systems made up the remaining $13.7m.

The cost of sales for the quarter was $107.5m, a rise of 16.4% yearly. This brought the gross profit for the quarter to $17.1m, down by 20.8%.

Administrative expenses totalled at $13.4m, while selling expenses came to $4.6m. Other expenses came to $100,000. Equity investment income at $8.6m offset this slightly, bringing Pollard’s total income from operations to $7.6m.

Foreign exchange gain at $200,000, alongside interest expense at $2.7m, brought Pollard’s pre-tax income to $5.1m.

Following income taxes of $300,000, the total net income for the year was $4.8m, a 25% reduction from Q1 2022.

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled at $18.4m, a slight dip from the $19.5m reported in the first quarter of 2022.