Supreme Ventures Limited indicates that cash holdings, which have almost doubled year-over-year, will be used to support the company’s acquisition goals.
The group generated positive cash flows from operations of $3.67 billion to close December 31, 2020, with a balance of $6.26 billion representing an increase of 74.13 per cent over the prior year.
In addition to cash provided by normal operations, the group increased third-party loans by $3.50 billion, primarily to assist in the funding of acquisitions.
With its financial year closed on December 31, 2020, SVL reported net profits of $2.42 billion, representing a decline of $52.69 million (two per cent less) over the prior year.
Profits issued from gross gaming income of $39.36 billion, represented an increase of $843.89 million, or 2.19 per cent over 2019.
Direct costs amounted to $30.61 billion or 0.02 per cent lower than the prior year.
Total winnings for the year to customers amounted to $52.02 billion, an increase of 2.46 per cent in 2019.
Chairman Gary Peart stated, “SVL continues to leverage its fixed distribution network by investing in new complementary businesses and product lines.”
He outlined that 2021 will see the advent of new financial services and related transactional product offerings which will further benefit the retail network and the main operations.
During the year, SVL acquired the assets of Champion Gaming Limited amounting to $1.5 billion.
The chairman said that “the buildout of the agent network in Guyana remains a key area of focus and we have seen significant strides in building out the base to support the accelerated growth of the business in tandem with the expected economic growth in the country.”
“Supreme’s focus on digitisation and improving the mobile offering for lotteries, sports betting and horse racing continues to be seen as an area of opportunity to enhance the customer experience and the ease of doing business,” Peart stated.
SVL said even before COVID-19, it was managing costs and has implemented significant cost savings initiatives while continuing to invest in the buildout of the company’s infrastructure.
“We have become more agile in our ability to meet customer and stakeholder requirements and have improved communications within our retail network,” directors stated.
Total assets increased at year-end 2020 by $6.11 billion to $15.53 billion.
Directors outlined that the major increase is attributable to the acquisition of the assets of Champion Gaming Limited in January 2020, deposits on gaming equipment and the net proceeds of the corporate bond issued in the 4th quarter.
It was noted that, despite COVID-19 and resulting closures in the Sports Betting segment, all segments performed creditably in comparison to the previous financial year, reflecting increases of 4.51 per cent.
The Lotteries and PINs segments earned $4.44 billion, an increase of 26.02 per cent over the prior year.
Source: https://www.loopjamaica.com/content/supreme-ventures-holds-cash-acquisitions
