Domestic sales dip hurts profits for gaming hardware maker
A sharp decline in U.S. sales pulled down the overall second-quarter results for casino hardware maker Gaming Partners International.
The company had net income of $908,000, or 11 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30, down from net income of $2.7 million, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue fell 25.6 percent to $14.8 million from $19.9 million.
In its quarterly report filed late Monday, the company cited sales to casinos in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware that happened last year but did not recur as a principal reason for the weaker performance.
Given the schedule of casino openings and its backlog, the company expects the current half of this year to be slower than the first half or the comparable period last year.
To lessen the dependence on a volatile casino construction schedule beyond its control, company executives are scouting takeover opportunities. In April, Gaming Partners purchased OMC SARL, a French maker of plastic injection molds, for $700,000.
The company derives most of its sales from casino chips, including those implanted with radio frequency identification tags that are supposed to make them easier to track and harder to counterfeit. It also makes table layouts, dice, cards and casino furniture.
