As the world still tackles to control the COVID-19 epidemic, organisations continue to implement strict orders to prevent further spread of the virus.
In further developments today Aristocrat Leisure Limited announced that due to uncertainty over the duration of the impacts of COVID-19, the company believes “it is appropriate to withdraw the group’s outlook statement” which was provided at its annual general meeting last month.
This includes plans for continued NPATA growth in the 2020 fiscal year, with the company stating it will provide updates as likely impacts become clearer.
In a statement, it was said: “As shared at the company’s annual general meeting in February 2020, the group has been monitoring and putting in place appropriate responses to COVID-19 for several months, beginning with its Macau and Asia Pacific operations.
“Aristocrat is executing comprehensive short and longer term risk management and mitigation plans, with the intention to position the business to emerge from the challenges caused by COVID19 as quickly and strongly as possible.
“The health and well-being of staff, their families and the broader communities in which we operate remains Aristocrat’s first priority.
“In addition to implementing broad travel bans and social distancing measures across our global operations, well over 80 per cent of Aristocrat’s more than 6,400 staff members are currently being supported to work from home, consistent with the advice of local health authorities.”
The group believe that softer demand in land-based markets is becoming evident as a number of customers trigger temporary venue closures and become more cautious, yet it confirmed digital bookings are currently unaffected.
Sports betting and interactive gaming technology company Newgioco has also provided an update, commenting on the impact that a coronavirus quarantine has had on its Italian operations.
Updating investors and stockholders, chairman and CEO Michele Ciavarella said: “During this global crisis we are taking proactive steps to effectively and efficiently operate our business while supporting our clients and retail partners and accommodating employees with young children and elderly relatives.
“The shutdown measures also led to the inevitable postponement and cancellation of major sports events that we are offsetting with our general off-season business adjustments.
“However, although we are seeing an uptake in our non-sports online entertainment products such as poker and casino, we do expect that the complete shutdown of global sports will affect our overall results of operations for this period and until the crisis is resolved.”
Furthermore, Aspire Global has announced that due to the “relatively small part of revenues from sports betting” it does not anticipate a major impact by the cancellation of sports events.
In a statement the company confirmed that to “mitigate” the impact from the cancellations, the company, along with its B2B clients, will “re-allocate resources including media spend to the casino segment.”
Tsachi Maimon, CEO of Aspire Global, stated: “The top priority for us today is to safeguard the health of our employees and their families. We took precautionary actions early and can today conclude that we have maintained a high service level towards our operator customers.
“Aspire Global has been profitable since its foundation in 2005. That, in combination with our strong cash position and ability to generate cash, we are confident about the continued execution of our growth strategy.”
