Shuffle Master
Net revenues for the third quarter jumped almost 11% to $45.1 million. Profit from continuing operations, however, fell 63% to $2.7 million. Net income from continuing operations came in at $0.08 per diluted share versus $0.20 per diluted share in last year's comparable quarter. Wall Street expectations were not met.
Clearly, Shuffle Master is no longer the master of its casino domain. What once was a mighty growth company is now a hopeful turnaround in the making. And while it seems that Shuffle Master is still nowhere near a sure bet of any kind, the earnings report contains a few positive signs.
There's more cash on the balance sheet this time around. Cash and cash equivalents came in at $16.1 million, versus the $8.9 million on the books at the end of October 2006. Net debt also decreased during that time frame, coming in at $210 million vs. $220 million. Plus, net cash from operating activities was up slightly.
Sampling some more cool stats, we see that the total shuffler installed base increased 17% year over year. The total electronic-table-game installed base jumped 39%, while the leased electronic-table-game installed base went up more than 300%.
Shuffle Master is also in the midst of reorganizing its corporate headquarters. The Las Vegas office will be split in two: Corporate Headquarters Group and Shuffle Master-Americas. The former will be responsible for marketing and typical headquarters stuff such as corporate accounting and human resources; Shuffle Master-Americas will be responsible for such duties as product compliance, operations and service, and sales.
The company signed a letter of intent back in July to buy the table game assets of Progressive Gaming
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