In 2017, the
technology group will focus on expanding its market position, particularly in
South America, the US, Australia and Asia. The acquisition of a majority stake
in the Australian company Ainsworth Game Technology offers an important lever
for the development of these markets. NOVOMATIC and Ainsworth have been working
together to complete this merger since receiving approval of the minority shareholders
in June 2016.
NOVOMATIC CEO Harald Neumann is looking forward to the future collaboration:
"In this short time, we have already made significant progress and begun the
strategic planning process for our joint future after NOVOMATIC becomes Ainsworth’s
majority shareholder.” In February, Ainsworth will appoint Neumann as
"Non-Executive Member of the Board”. Both companies are currently in the
process of obtaining the approval of various gaming authorities required for
the completion of the acquisition.
NOVOMATIC is also very pleased with its development as a technology supplier. The company recently entered into a five-year contract with the Greek lottery company OPAP (as of February 2017, the Sazka Group, a Czech consortium that also holds a share in Casinos Austria AG, is OPAP’s majority shareholder with a stake of 33 percent). With revenues of more than 1.4 billion EUR in 2015, OPAP is the leading gaming company in Greece and Europe's fifth largest lottery operator. Starting in 2018, NOVOMATIC will be providing its innovative and secure Omni-channel platform for all OPAP lottery games.
The British competition authority CMA (Competition Markets Authority) recently gave the green light for the acquisition of the English company Talarius. With this acquisition, NOVOMATIC is now the largest operator in the segment of adult gaming centers in the UK.
According to Neumann, preliminary calculations indicate that in fiscal year 2016, NOVOMATIC AG was able to outpace the previous year’s record results by another 10 percent to reach a total of approximately 2.3 billion EUR. The combined Group revenues, including the two Swiss sister holding companies Gryphon Invest AG and ACE Casino Holding AG, is expected to increase to 4.4 billion EUR. The NOVOMATIC Group, furthermore, had 28,974 employees worldwide at the end of 2016, an increase of approximately 15 percent over the previous year.
As Europe’s leading gaming technology group, NOVOMATIC once again wowed visitors this year with the largest stand at ICE Totally Gaming, held February 7-9 in London. On a surface area of approximately 4,700 m², a total of 25 group companies presented the NOVOMATIC Group’s comprehensive product portfolio. The offer at the NOVOMATIC exhibition ranged from casino equipment, systems and cash management solutions to arcade and pub products and sports betting, lotteries and online, mobile and social gaming.
"With this trade show appearance, NOVOMATIC once again proves that as a full-service provider we are among the world’s leading gaming technology groups,” added Neumann at a press conference at the ICE event in London.
