Pollard Banknote enjoys successful quarter amid 24% sales growth

Pollard Banknote has published its financial statement for Q2 of FY2021, reporting sales growth of 24% for the trading period.
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Pollard Banknote has published its financial statement for Q2 of FY2021, reporting sales growth of 24% for the trading period. 

Total sales for the company reached $113.4m, up from $91.5m achieved in Q2 of FY2020 despite an $11m deduction for exchange rate costs. Combined with earnings from the shared revenues of the NeoPollard Interactive joint venture’s sales, earnings totalled $123.3m, up 32% from $93.7m in 2020.

Ilottery sales grew by approximately a third from the same period last year, rising from $12.5m to $16.7m, whilst instant ticket sales remained strong driven by continuing high sales of instant tickets at retail, particularly in North America, generating higher volume orders for the firm.

During the quarter, Pollard generated approximately 69.3% of its revenue in US dollars including a portion of international sales which are priced in US dollars.

Charitable gaming revenue was strong and Pollard claims that this ‘reflected strong consumer demand, exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels during the second quarter’.

However, rising charitable gaming revenues also led the company’s cost of sales to rise from $72.7m in Q2 of FY2020 to $90.8m in Q2 FY2021. Pollard says this was the “result of the substantial increase in charitable gaming sales volumes as compared to the second quarter of 2020, and the addition of NGL and Compliant.”

John Pollard, Co-CEO, commented: “Pollard Banknote’s second quarter results reflect the ongoing investment and growth in a number of our business lines and we are very pleased with the results.

“The lottery market continues to see very high levels of retail sales of instant tickets, particularly in the United States, maintaining the levels achieved during 2020 and early 2021 during the pandemic. 

“This growth has helped us reach a near record quarterly level of instant ticket production volumes during the second quarter and although the timing of the recognition of some of the sales of this production can be delayed based on delivery timing and other factors, this strong trend underlies the strength of our key market.”

Across the quarter, Pollard Banknote secured contracts with several lottery operators across North America and Europe to provide mobile lotteries, instant tickets and scratch-off games. Among them were the Maryland Lottery, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and Danske Lotteri Spil. 

Doug Pollard, Co-CEO, added: “Growing our portfolio of product lines to service lotteries in all areas is a cornerstone of our strategy and has provided us with many opportunities to deepen our partnerships with key customers.  

“Our ancillary product offerings including important products and services such as digital games, lottery management systems and loyalty systems continue to make important inroads in providing lotteries with the tools to expand, and connect with, their retail customers.”