Profit for the September quarter, at Supreme Ventures jumped 440 percent over the 2013 results, hitting $184 million in the process and a sharp climb from the $34 million realized in the 2013 period.
For the nine months ending September this year, profit after tax rose by a strong 41 percent, to $617 million, with earnings per share of 23 cents, putting the company on target to hit 30 cents per share for the full year to December. The gambling industry can have fettle results from time to time as has happened in the past at this company.
The strong improved profit results, flowed from a 16 percent sales rise in sales revenue in the quarter, to $9.9 billion and a stronger 22 percent for the nine months, to $30.1 billion. Gross profit grew at a slower pace of 7 percent for the three months and 11 percent for the nine months.
Segment results| Segment results show Supreme with challenges. While lottery earnings, climbed 35 percent for the year to date, to reach $1.22 billion and other areas grew from $102 million to $108 million, Sports betting losses are worsening even as revenues climbed from $177 million in 2013 to $418 million in 2014. The sharp growth in sports betting is attributable to betting on world cup football games. The segment lost $87 million in 2013 and $148 million in 2014 so far. Revenues fell for the Gaming and hospitality segment, from $394 million in 2013, to $314 million in 2014, but the losses were reduced from $440 million to $376 million. There are no noticeable improvements in the losses in the September quarter, for either loss making segments.
Administrative expenses dropped 18 percent, in the quarter due mainly to lower charges for professional fees, compared with the 2013, quarter and 4 percent for the nine months to September. While taxation increased, it was much slower than the growth in pretax profit. If the company could cut out the segment losses or sharply reduce them, earnings could jump as the losses amount to about 20 cents per share after tax.
The financials remain strong with equity of close to $3.9 billion and cash and investments of $1.9 billion against current liabilities of $1.6 billion.