Shuffle Master Exec Happy with Progress

LAS VEGAS --For Las Vegas-based Shuffle Master, growth is good.

Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Yoseloff said Tuesday the company's excellence and its growth are reasons why it was included in Forbes' 200 Best Small Companies in America for the fifth consecutive year.

Originally known for card-shuffling machines designed to foil card counters and improve productivity, Shuffle Master has worked hard to diversify its product line, Yoseloff said.

Slot machines such as Press Your Luck and table games including Let it Ride were part of Shuffle Master's strategy of expanding and diversifying over the past five years.

Shuffle Master doubled its revenue and increased net income by almost 500 percent during that five-year span, he noted.

According to Thomson/First Call, Shuffle Master revenues were $56 million last year, and the company generated income of 77 cents per share. In 1998 those numbers were $27.1 million and 15 cents per share, respectively.

Yoseloff said he was gratified by the fifth spot on the Forbes list, which rates companies by a weighted combination of return on equity, sales and earnings-per-share growth, each measured for the past five years and the most recent four quarters.

"It's the result of an awful lot of people in our company working together, and our strategy of diligently expanding and diversifying our product line," Yoseloff said. "To put it in perspective, we were fifth on Business Week's list (of best small companies), 17th on Fortune's list of fastest-growing small companies, and five years in a row on Forbes' list."

The strategy that got Shuffle Master plaudits in the periodical's latest issue, which went on sale Monday, will continue, Yoseloff said. A new video poker game, Parlay Poker, was previewed at the Global Gaming Expo in September, and he expects the company to aggressively continue expanding and diversifying.

"Shuffle Master is one of only two top 10 companies to appear on the list for five or more years, clear testament to the consistency of our results," Yoseloff said in a statement.

The company was No. 35 on the list last year.

"Being selected by Forbes is recognition of the strength of our business strategy and the outstanding nature of our employees who create, manufacture and service our products."

Shuffle Master shares closed at $28.60 Tuesday, up 55 cents, or 1.96 percent.