Strong quarter reported

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

Acres Gaming Inc. of Las Vegas reported a sizable jump in both revenue and net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30.

The company, which manufactures systems that add bonus features to casino games, reported net income of $417,000, or 4 cents per share. This compares to a loss of $1.6 million, or 18 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 126 percent to $6.1 million.

Acres said it was able to generate a greater profit margin on its sales than it did in the year-ago quarter, as more of its revenue came from the sale of software systems, which carry higher profit margins than hardware systems.

New orders have been slow since Sept. 11, but the company has a strong backlog of orders, Chief Executive Bud Glisson said.

"Most of our prospective customers have continued to pursue their systems projects, but target dates for signed contracts have been delayed," Glisson said. "If business conditions continue to stabilize, we would expect to add several new contracts to our already strong backlog, and barring unanticipated regulatory delays, we would expect earnings for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002, to increase by 20 percent to 30 percent over the prior year."