LV slot company’s profit falls

Monday, May 3, 1999 | 10:32 a.m.

PDS Financial Corp. of Las Vegas, a slot machine financier and supplier of used slots, reported a lower profit for the quarter ended March 31.

PDS said it earned $134,000 or 4 cents per share, compared to net income of $449,000 or 12 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues for the current year quarter of $6.9 million were down from $9.5 million in the year-earlier quarter. EBITDA (cash flow) increased to $3.8 million for the current quarter from $3.1 million in the year earlier quarter.

"We made substantial investments of time and effort related to significant transactions, which we expect to close in the second quarter," Chief Executive Johan Finley said in a statement.

The PDS finance division originated $8.6 million in transactions in the quarter compared to $11.6 million in the year earlier quarter. The Company's lease portfolio increased to a record $40.4 million as of March 31, compared to $37.4 million as of Dec. 31, 1998.

Rental revenues totaled $2.5 million for the current quarter, compared to $2 million for the year-earlier quarter. Fee income totaled $1 million for the current quarter, about even with a year ago.

Finance income -- interest earned on PDS's portfolio of interest bearing receivables -- totaled $936,000 for the current quarter, compared to $320,000 in the year earlier quarter.

PDS Slot Source, the company's reconditioned games division, reported combined revenues from sales and sales-type leases totaling $2.3 million in the current year quarter, compared to $2.9 million in the year earlier quarter. The year-earlier quarter equipment sales revenues also included $3.2 million from the sale of equipment under lease -- no such sales of leased equipment occurred in the current quarter.

PDS Slot Source said it shipped 1,275 gaming devices in the quarter ended March 31, compared to 700 in the year-earlier quarter.