Aristocrat Celebrates Big Wins with Share Buy-Back Offer

Aristocrat, one of Australia’s leading iGaming players, confirmed today that its software business continues to drive revenue growth, giving the firm headroom to extend a much-celebrated share buy-back scheme. 

In a statement released to the ASX on 24/2/2023, directors at Aristocrat confirmed that a further AU$ 500 million (£282 million) would be spent purchasing open market shares until May 2024. 

This news comes on top of the declaration made in May 2022 that the board at Aristocrat would complete a buy-back plan costing AU$ 500 million (£282 million).

As a further boost for shareholders, group CEO Trevor Croker explained that Aristocrat would continue seeking growth opportunities when they presented themselves. 

Commenting on the dual-focused share buy-back and expansion plan, Croker was quoted as saying, “With the A$500 million on-market share buy-back program previously announced in May 2022 nearing completion, and our consistently strong cash flow generation, we can continue to pursue a mix of returns to shareholders via dividends and share buy-backs while also investing in strategic acquisitions and organic growth initiatives.“

Croker observed that Aristocrat’s “strong cash flow generation” was the key to the firm’s strategic progress. This cash is free to invest in projects that will continue to drive growth, including Anaxi, the group’s real money gaming product. But investment in “technologies, products, and innovations” will also continue to produce additional profitability gains. 

Looking to the year ahead, Croker has also been buoyed by current market conditions, with encouraging take-up rates for Aristocrat’s range of iGaming solutions being strong across the board but “particularly in North America.” 

However, as a note of caution, it was added that share buy-backs would occur at “opportunistic” times, with the scheme subject to continued board scrutiny.

Shares in Aristocrat (ALL) are up 20% year-to-date at the time of writing.