Pollard Banknote Limited registered a positive turnover across business operations in the period ending 30 June.
The results were divided into Q2 and H1 segments, each showing noticeable growth compared to the previous corresponding period for the lottery printing group.
Sales revenue in Q2 reached a record $137.8m, up by $7m YoY as gross profits reached $29m compared to the $20.8m in Q2 2023.
Net income in the three months ending 30 June 2024 reached $11.9m from the $7.5m in the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA was anchored at $32.3m from the $22.1m in Q2 2023.
John Pollard, Co-CEO, commented: “We are extremely pleased with the performance of our instant ticket business during the second quarter, with significantly improved gross margins reflecting the impact of our focused efforts on repricing our contracts.
“We have repriced a majority of our contracts over the past two years and as these new contracts are now coming into effect, we are seeing gross margins increasing considerably. This trend will continue as more of the already repriced contracts come on stream.
“Despite the increased positive impact of higher average selling prices in the second quarter, we have not yet recognized the benefits of all of our repriced contracts in our recorded revenue. New prices in a number of contracts will not be reflected in our revenue numbers until the end of 2024. After repricing a majority of our existing contracts, there still remain contracts to be repriced, as their current end dates have not yet come due.
“Higher sales and production volumes relative to our first quarter of 2024 also contributed to the improved margin, and the mix of products included higher value items relative to the previous quarter. This improved mix is expected to continue in the third quarter, which historically includes higher value specialty work for the holiday season.”
Taking a wider look, H1 2024 results brought the firm $263.6m in sales as opposed to the $255.8m in H1 2023. Additionally, gross profit was up $12m in the whole first half of this year, rising to $50.5m compared to the 38.5m in 2023. Adjusted EBITDA reached $56m from the $40.7m in 2023.
Significant growth was achieved across Pollard’s instant ticketing business, with profitability improving in Q2 and generating gross margin expansion.
Additionally, the company’s joint Michigan iLottery venture stood at $16.2m in combined income for H1, with an additional West Virginia contract expected to be rolled out in H2.
Adding on that, Pollard commented: “Our iLottery joint venture generated $16.2 million in combined income before income taxes, which is further noteworthy given there were fewer significant Powerball® and Mega Millions® jackpots in the quarter compared to the past year, however the strong organic growth experienced across our contract portfolio is extremely encouraging. We look forward to the successful roll out of our joint venture’s West Virginia iLottery contract in the fall of 2024.
“We continue to receive significant interest and positive feedback in our own proprietary omni-channel iLottery platform and game content. We are confident our ongoing significant investment and innovation in our solution will result in our continuing growth in iLottery.
“We are also excited to launch our Pollard iLottery game content with a major North American lottery in the third quarter and are in active discussions to provide game content to both North American and international lotteries in 2025.”
