re: Ann: Preliminary Final Report and Financi... grandcaruso,...

re: Ann: Preliminary Final Report and Financi... grandcaruso, dream on.
Aristocrat is still paying a nice little 10c dividend fully franked.
Yes, $16 was plain dumb and all the suckers were buying, BUT under $3-$4 it's a steal. Made a fortune years ago when ALL went down to these low levels, and I'll make a fortune again buying in now.

Obviously some smarter people think the same.

QUOTE
Aristocrat (ALL) $3.56
CRITERION: Tim Boreham | February 24, 2009
Article from: The Australian
DON'T get too excited, but there's a frisson of hope surrounding the poker machine maker, which hit a jackpot of woes even before demand slumped in its key markets of the US, Japan and locally.

This morning's full-year results were poor, but at least predictably so given they had been pre-announced on February 9. The reason for our cautious optimism is that availability of Aristocrat's you-beaut next-gen machines, Viridan and Gen 7 has been limited, but the rollout is gaining pace.

Just as crucially, Aristocrat's Japanese sales have revived after falling to almost nothing as a result of new gaming regulations.

Accounting for the $40 million cost of a settled shareholder class action, Aristocrat's net profits slid 58 per cent to $101.9 million, at the lower of the guidance.

Australian performance was impacted by “progressively deteriorating conditions”, exacerbated by smoking bans at venue, increased government taxes and a slowdown in Victorian machine replacement (ahead of Tabcorp and Tattersall's losing their poker duopoly in 2012).

Sales fell 21 per cent in the US, Aristocrat's biggest market, partly due to a slowdown in the replacement cycle which means operators are replacing their machines every 18 years.

”With the prevailing economic conditions it is unlikely the replacement cycle will show much improvement for the remainder of 2009,” says executive chairman David Simpson.

Japanese sales doubled on a per-unit basis, basically because the company now sells machines that comply with the new gaming regulations there. But Japan remains a low-margin market and is more volatile and unpredictable.

Aristocrat followers will be au fait with its constant flow of bad vibes, culminating in repeated profit warnings. CEO Paul Oneile did the right thing and departed in December.

New CEO Jamie Odell, who has been “listening and learning” in the shadows since the start of February, promises an August update on Aristocrat's “next exciting phase”.

Rather like the Foster's wine arm which Odell used to head, Aristocrat could do with less excitement and more solid results.

We had Aristocrat as a “sell” at $4.83 in late July, but this is under review and we'll probably view the stock in a more favourable light. Despite its poor legacy the company remains a global industry leader and boasts a relatively trouble-free balance sheet.

Aristocrat's longer term fortunes rests with management's ability to translate its hefty R&D spend -- $115 million last year -- into ever glitzier ways to part punters from their brass.