IGT sees profits rise despite revenue dip

Slot machine giant IGT - International Game Technology grew profits in the fourth quarter, despite a decline in revenue, the company announced Thursday.

IGT, which is being bought by Italian lottery provider GTECH Holdings for $6.4 billion, said net income for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 was $70.9 million, compared with $64.5 million in the same quarter of 2013. The profits translated into earnings per share of 28 cents, compared with 24 cents a year ago.

IGT’s revenue in the quarter declined 15 percent to $536.5 million.

For all fiscal 2014, IGT said its total revenue declined 12 percent to $2.1 billion.

IGT CEO Patti Hart said in a statement the increases in net income during the quarter were due to “in large part to cost saving actions” the company undertook this year.

Because of the pending sale to GTECH, IGT did not hold a conference call to discuss earnings.

Social gaming — primarily IGT’s ownership of the DoubleDown Casino application on Facebook — saw revenue increase 22 percent in the fourth quarter to $75 million. The average player spent 46 cents per day on the website, an increase of 15 percent.

Social gaming is free to play but users can pay nominal fees for increased gaming tokens.

“While we continue to see muted demand in our core business, our DoubleDown Casino business drove 28 percent revenue growth for the full year while maintaining industry-leading player monetization rates and growing daily active users,” Hart said.