Light & Wonder’s first quarter results for 2022 are in and the beginning of the year has proven to be a fruitful one for the Las Vegas-based company which recently underwent a rebranding from Scientific Games to its aforementioned, current iteration.
Consolidated revenue saw year-on-year growth of 26% to $572m. Additionally, net loss decreased from what had been seen the year before, from $88m in last year’s first quarter to $67m in this one. Meanwhile, consolidated EBITDA was up 42% from the prior year to $202m.
Other highlights from the quarter – besides, of course, the rebranding to Light & Wonder – include the sale of the lottery side of its business to the private equity group Brookfield Business Partners.
This move, and accompanying de-leveraging, helped enable the reduction of a significant amount of outstanding debt. Over the course of the quarter, debt went from $8.9bn to $4.0bn.
The group was able to return money to shareholders as well: $140m was returned after 2.4 million shares were bought back.
President and CEO Barry Cottle noted these highlights as he summarized the quarter in comments: “We kicked off 2022 with a number of significant achievements and strong momentum across our businesses with strong revenue growth of 26% in the quarter... With a reconstituted balance sheet, sustainable double-digit growth and strong cash generation, we now have the ability to significantly enhance shareholder value through a disciplined approach to capital allocation.”
Said CFO Connie James on the finances: “With our strengthened balance sheet, we are actively executing non our capital allocation priorities, including $140m return on capital through the repurchase of our shares just since the beginning of March.
“Going forward we are accelerating our focus on our operations as we complete the transactions, and the next phase of our growth strategy will drive further operational excellence throughout our organization, creating sustainable and profitable long-term growth.”
