PlayAGS - Q3 2023

Executive Summary

• Record quarter: Revenue rose 14% year over year to $89.4M, Adjusted EBITDA hit a new high at $40.1M (44.9% margin), and free cash flow reached a record $12.7M; modest net loss ($0.2M) reflected ~$4M higher interest costs year over year amid rate moves.
• Segments: EGM led with 14% revenue growth (1,345 units sold, +33% YoY), Table Products +9%, and Interactive +20% to a record $3.1M; recurring revenue reached a record $61.0M and ~70% of mix.
• Balance sheet: Net leverage improved to 3.4x vs 3.8x at year-end 2022; company reiterated 2023 year-end leverage target of 3.25x–3.50x and capex plan of $65–$70M.
• Outlook catalysts: Management expects Q4 global EGM unit sales to exceed Q3, ASP to ~return to ~$20K, Q4 Adjusted EBITDA margin to stay >44%, and domestic RPD to match/slightly exceed Q4’22 ($31.46); Spectra UR49 commercial launch and premium mix expansion are near-term growth drivers.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Record profitability/FCF despite rates: Adjusted EBITDA reached $40.1M (up 16% YoY) and free cash flow a record $12.7M, with margin expansion to 44.9% driven by outsized EGM growth, higher-margin Spectra sales mix, and Interactive ROI.
• Broad-based segment strength: EGM revenue +14% YoY with 1,345 unit sales (+33% YoY), Table Products revenue +9% with PAX S/BSX momentum, and Interactive revenue +20% to a record $3.1M (RMG +26% sequentially).
• Strategic product pipeline: “Best G2E to date” with Spectra UR49 following Spectra UR43 success; premium mix up to 17% of domestic installed base; management confident in “relative outperformance” continuing (“our booth truly had it all… puts us in the desirable position to continue our theme of relative outperformance”).

What Went Wrong

• Bottom-line pressure from higher interest: Q3 swung to a small net loss of $0.2M vs $0.5M profit in Q3’22, largely from ~$4M higher debt service amid rate increases (partly offset by stronger operating income).
• Table Products margin compression: Table Adjusted EBITDA fell 5% YoY and margin dropped to 55.5% (from 63.5%) due to higher field service allocation and greater equipment sales mix.
• Domestic EGM RPD seasonality: Domestic RPD ticked down sequentially from $33.48 in Q2 to $32.57 in Q3 due to normal seasonal GGR trends; CFO flagged potential inventory build for Q1 demand that could modestly impact Q4 FCF.

Transcript

Speaker 0

Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's call titled Play AGS Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Ellen, and I'll be the call operator today. All participant lines will be muted throughout the presentation. At the end of today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask a question. I would now like to turn

Speaker 1

the call over to Brad Boyer, SVP of Investor Relations to begin. Brad, please go ahead whenever you're ready.

Speaker 2

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Play AGS Incorporated Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. With me today are David Lopez, CEO and Kimo Akiona, CFO. A slide presentation reviewing our key operational and financial highlights for the Q3 ended September 30, 2023 can be found on our Investor Relations website, investors. Playags.com.

On today's call, we will provide an overview of our Q3 2023 financial performance and offer perspective on our current financial outlook for the business. This conference call will include the use of forward looking statements. Any statement that refers to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events, Including financial projections or future market conditions is a forward looking statement based on assumptions today. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements, and we make no obligation to update our disclosures. For more information about factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from our forward looking statements, Please refer to the earnings press release we issued today as well as risks described in our annual report on Form 10 ks, particularly in the section of these documents titled Risk Factors.

Our commentary today will also include non GAAP financial measures. We believe the use of these non GAAP financial measures provides an additional For investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends in our business. These measures should not be considered in isolation from Or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations between GAAP and non GAAP metrics for our reported results can be found in our earnings release issued today. Please refer to our filings with the SEC for more information.

With that, I would like to turn the call over to our CEO, David Lopez.

Speaker 3

Thanks Brad and good afternoon everyone. We delivered another solid quarter of execution in Q3 with our Product momentum and focus team producing performance that far exceeded the trends observed across the broader domestic gaming landscape And contributed to several new financial records along the way. That said, I would like to highlight a few of the notable accomplishments from the quarter. 1st, domestic EGM Gaming Operations revenue increased 6% year over year, once again outpacing the revenue trends Observed across the broader domestic gaming landscape. 2nd, global EGM unit sales increased by over 30% versus the prior year, Far surpassing the 2% market level increase forecasted by Eilers, I would note our replacement unit sales and the number of customers sold to Both reached new records in the quarter.

3rd, we estimate MEXTA RPD increased 9% Year over year on a constant currency basis as our ongoing optimization efforts and a stable macroeconomic back continue to support our performance in the region. 4th, Interactive revenues increased more than 20% year over year to a record $3,100,000 driven by returns on strategic investments initiated in the back half of twenty twenty two. And finally, Table Products revenue surpassed $4,000,000 for the 3rd consecutive quarter with the continued strong rollout of PACS shuffler Pushing table sales revenue above the $500,000 level for the Q2 in a row. Ultimately, The noteworthy top line trends I just described allowed us to deliver on 3 financial metrics that I believe matter most to those of you on the call. Adjusted EBITDA surpassed the $40,000,000 level for the first time, establishing a new record for the 3rd time in the past 4 quarters.

Next is free cash flow, which increased to a record of approximately $13,000,000 reflecting strong operating performance And a continued focus on working capital efficiency and CapEx discipline. And last, net leverage fell 3.4 times, which is inside of our targeted year end range, a quarter ahead of schedule. With another record quarter behind us, our focus now turns to Q4 in 2024, which leads me to G2E, where I can I can only say this was our company's best show to date? Continuing a theme that began our pre G2E customer meetings, The show itself served as a coming out party for our collective R and D team. Showcasing the dramatic product transformation spurred by their Commitment and focus over the past several years, this transformation did not go unnoticed by our customers.

From new cutting edge cabinets To a thoughtfully curated portfolio of diverse slot content, new table game concepts and a turbocharge interactive offering, Our booth truly had it all. Taking everything into account, I believe our current pipeline of new products Puts us in the desirable position to continue our theme of relative outperformance for the foreseeable future. Within thoughts, our product momentum is very real. With Spectra43 continuing to deliver exceptional performance, While Spectra 49, the 2nd cabinet in our Spectra family has jumped out to a strong start across all initial pet sites. In addition to this success, I'm also excited about our entrance into the mechanical reel and jumbo market segments.

With initial deployment scheduled for the back half of twenty twenty four. With a complete portfolio of slot products Capable of addressing the most in demand segments on operator's floors and a well diversified portfolio of game content, I'm confident we have the tools at our disposal to consistently grow our ship share in the quarters ahead. Momentum is equally evident in our premium game segment where we just completed our 15th consecutive quarter of unit growth. Similar to slot sales, I believe we have the right hardware and game content momentum necessary to level up in this growing market segment, Building on our current premium unit mix of 17%. Turning to tables, Our position as partner and innovator of choice continues to propel the business forward.

On the topic of innovation, We recently introduced several new features and functionality for our BONUS Fin Extreme Progressive, which have the potential to broaden The products appeal and allow us to build upon our existing BSX installation base of over 500 units. Additionally, Our PAX SaaS shuffler continues to prove efficient and effective with our footprint quickly approaching 300 units. Looking ahead, the continued momentum behind BSX and PACS along with the new jurisdictional and product approvals Is allowing us to accelerate our sell in to under penetrated markets. Additionally, we have kicked off Early stage development for a new multi deck shuffler, which will allow us to attack the largest segment of the global shuffler market. Combined, we believe these opportunities put our Table business on a compelling multiyear growth trajectory.

Finally, our interactive segment has entered launch mode. As evidenced by our record Q3 performance, During the quarter, we launched our first game in the popular 3 reel category. Mega Diamond, our most successful new game release to date, Has outperformed our previous best release by nearly 40%. The strong performance propelled the title to the top of the charts in the October EILARD With another AGS game theme, Capital Games taking 2nd place. As I look to 2024 and beyond, I'm confident Strategic conditions for our interactive team should allow for more consistent delivery of AGS content into the online channel, Further diversification of our online content offerings into additional genres and more And impactful interactions with our B2C partners, all of which will position us to deliver outsized growth.

Well, I am encouraged by the recent success and consistent momentum building across all three of our operating segments, I'm even more enthused with how our improved operating has allowed us to deliver on 2 key strategic objectives: consistent free cash flow generation and delevering. As I previously mentioned, free cash flow in the quarter set a new company record surpassing $10,000,000 for the 2nd consecutive quarter. Looking ahead, we remain focused on leveraging our organizational commitment to CapEx discipline and working capital efficiency To consistently generate quarterly free cash flow with a target of steadily improving our annual free cash flow conversion over time. Additionally, we intend to pair our improved free cash flow with continued adjusted EBITDA growth to further reduce our net leverage. While we continue to target year end net leverage in the range of 3.25 times to 3.5 times, We have our sights set on driving leverage into the mid-2s, at which point we believe we will be presented with opportunities to further unlock shareholder value.

In closing, I would like to thank our team members across the globe for their commitment, focus and dedication. Your efforts have not only produced a run of record setting financial performance, but also contributed to the development of the most diverse and compelling product lineup in our company's history. That said, I remain extremely excited about what lies ahead for the company and I look forward to sharing our progress with you on future calls. With that, I will turn the call over to Timo.

Speaker 4

Thank you, David, and good afternoon to all of you on the call. As in prior quarters, I will review a couple of highlights from our reported results and provide a perspective on how we see each of our business segments trending as we look ahead to the current quarter. I will also share some thoughts on our free cash flow outlook for the remainder of the year And close by addressing a few items related to our balance sheet. Turning first to our domestic EGM Gaming Operations business, 3rd quarter revenue increased 6% year over year to approximately $49,000,000 far outpacing the modest decline in market Why is domestic gross gaming revenues or GGR? Domestic EGM RPD improved 5% year over year The $32.57 topping the $30 level for the 10th consecutive quarter, while our domestic EGM installed base Grew by over 160 units versus the prior year and increased sequentially for the 6th quarter in a row.

The strategic initiatives driving the continued relative outperformance in our Q3 domestic EGM recurring revenue were consistent with the past several quarters. First, we identified additional opportunities to thoughtfully expand our footprint of higher earning premium recurring revenue units, Achieving growth in our premium installed base for the 15th consecutive quarter. 2nd, we leveraged the Spanded scale and scope of our EGM product portfolio, including our high performing Spectra cabinet and increasingly diverse game content library to further optimize our core EGM footprint. Finally, overall market level GGR trends remained relatively stable and consistent throughout the quarter. Looking ahead to Q4 at a high level, we believe our domestic EGM Gaming Operations business is once again positioned To outperform relative to broader domestic DGR trends.

From a KPI perspective, we expect our year end domestic EGM installed base To be up slightly versus Q3 as continued modest growth in our premium unit footprint is partially offset By an anticipated seasonal increase in 4th quarter convert to sale activity as operators deploy use it or lose it capital prior to year end. As it relates to RPD, quarter to date GGR trends across our served market continue to prove relatively consistent Those witnessed over the past several quarters. That said, provided the domestic GGR environment maintains its resiliency throughout the duration of the quarter, We believe our unique set of company specific yield optimization catalysts, including our growing premium unit footprint, High performing Spectra cabinet and diversified core content offering should allow us to deliver Q4 domestic RPD that is in line with So slightly ahead of the 3,146 achieved in Q4 2022. Shifting to EGM sales, We sold 13.45 units globally in the 3rd quarter, up by over 30% versus the prior year. Sustained spectrum momentum supported by the continued strong performance of the cabinet's launch titles, a more than 60% in the number of customers sold to, further penetration of the growing historical horse racing machine market And the ability to leverage a deeper and more diverse product portfolio and stable market level demand trends once again Contributed to our outsized unit sales growth in the quarter.

As we look ahead to Q4, continued sell through of SPECTRA-forty 3, The scheduled commercial launch of SPECTRA 49, further targeted broadening of our customer account penetration And a consistent market wide purchasing demand climate should allow us to deliver global EGM unit sales that exceed Q3 levels. Moving on to EGM pricing, 3rd quarter global ASP was approximately 19,400, Up slightly versus the prior year. A greater mix of premium priced Spectra cabinet sales and continued implementation of our price integrity initiatives paced our improved ASP performance versus the prior year. ASP declined modestly relative to the 20,700 achieved in Q2 2023 consistent with the expectations laid out on our Q2 call. The quarterly sequential ASP cadence Reflect a slight increase in international unit sales and the mix of domestic Orion family cabinet sales in the quarter.

It is important to note that pricing on Spectra, which accounted for approximately 60% of our total third quarter unit sales mix, Remain comfortably above the 20,000 level. Looking at Q4, supported by strong pricing we continue to command for Spectra 43, The anticipated sale of initial Spectra 49 units, which are priced at a premium to 43 and the mix of non Vectra family units within our sales pipeline, we believe ASP should return to around the $20,000 level. Turning to our international UGM business, recurring revenue increased 25% year over year and improved sequentially for the 13th consecutive quarter. The continued strong performance of several established AZS franchise games throughout Mexico, further installed base optimization, Stable macroeconomic trends and favorable FX movements contributed to our improved recurring revenue performance in the quarter. International RPD increased by nearly 30% versus the prior year or approximately 9% on a constant currency basis, Surpassing $9 for the first time.

As we look ahead to Q4, we believe the compounding effect or benefit of installed base optimization Coupled with the resilient market level revenue trends observed quarter to date should allow us to deliver another quarter of outsized international game ops revenue growth. Looking beyond ETM, revenues within our Table Products segment topped $4,000,000 for the 3rd consecutive quarter, With equipment sales revenue surpassing $500,000 for the Q2 in a row. Our PAXx S. Shuttler footprint increased approximately 8% sequentially to over 290 units, While our bonus brand Extreme Progressive installed base surpassed 500 units at quarter end, we also expanded the market penetration of our EZS Arsenal site license program in the quarter by executing our 1st site license with the casino operator in the Oregon market. Supported by continued strong demand for PACS, a favorable customer response to the enhanced features and functionality recently added To our bone, it's been extreme progressive, targeted jurisdictional expansion opportunities and an accommodative new casino opening calendar, We believe we should be able to modestly improve upon our Q3 table revenue performance in the 4th quarter.

Shifting to Interactive, segment level revenues increased 20% year over year to a record of just over 3,000,000 Returns on the strategic investments into our Real Money Gaming or RMG business initiated in the back half of twenty twenty two Continued to accelerate during the Q3 with RMG revenue advancing more than 20% on a quarterly sequential basis to a record of 2,800,000 The strong revenue growth also flowed through to segment level EBITDA, which increased nearly 60% year over year A little over $900,000 representing our 15th consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA performance within the segment. Looking ahead to Q4, although we expect Interactive revenues to be nicely higher versus the prior year, we believe the combination of a Challenging Q3 comparison with the quarter benefiting from our most successful RMG launch game launch to date And the anticipated timing of new content introduction could temporarily moderate the level of sequential revenue growth we're able to achieve. That said, as David indicated, we are increasingly confident to add in-depth and diversity of our underdevelopment online content offering Along with our execution of more targeted and tactical business development initiatives put our Interactive business on a multi year path to consistent And sustainable outsized growth in 2024 and beyond.

Turning to margins. 3rd quarter adjusted EBITDA margin was approximately 45%, Nicely ahead of the expectations articulated on our Q2 call and up 90 basis points versus the prior year. Operating leverage resulting from outsized EGM segment revenue growth, a greater mix of higher margin Spectra family EGM unit sales And accelerating returns on our Tactical Interactive investments all contributed to our improved margin performance in the quarter. Although seasonal G2E related expenses are likely to contribute to modest sequential compression in our Q4 adjusted EBITDA margin, We expect to remain above the 44% level in the quarter as we continue to target full year adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 44% 45%. 3rd quarter capital expenditures totaled approximately 17,000,000 bringing our year to date capital spend to just under $47,000,000 We continue to expect full year capital expenditures Inclusive of anticipated capitalized R and D to land in the range of $65,000,000 to $70,000,000 Cash interest in the quarter was $13,500,000 increasing our year to date cash interest expense to approximately 39,000,000 We believe the $13,500,000 level serves as a good proxy for the 4th quarter.

3rd quarter free cash flow Defined as net operating cash flow plus proceeds from payments on customer notes receivable less CapEx increased on both a year over year And quarterly sequential basis to just under $13,000,000 supported by our record operating performance, Heightened focus on efficient and effective working capital management and continued CapEx deployment discipline. Looking ahead to Q4, we believe the strong demand we are currently seeing for our growing suite of EGM products Could require us to source additional component inventory prior to year end to ensure we are in a good position to fulfill Q1 demand in a timely fashion. While this has the potential to modestly impact our Q4 free cash flow performance, our continued operating momentum And further execution of our CapEx efficiency initiatives will allow us to generate positive free cash flow for the 3rd consecutive quarter. Finally, net leverage at quarter end fell to 3.4 times compared to 3.8 times at the start of the year. Supported by the operating trends observed across the business through October, combined with our expectation to once again generate positive free cash flow in Q4, We remain confident in our ability to exit 2023 with net leverage in the range of 3.25 times to 3.5 times.

I would note the assumptions underpinning the midpoint of our targeted year end net leverage range continue to contemplate a modest pullback and prevailing market level conditions that we have not yet observed Q4 to date. That said, Should broader DDR trends remain relatively consistent with the levels we are currently experiencing for the duration of the quarter, We would expect to exit 2023 with net leverage in the bottom half of the range. Finally, I would like to reiterate our approach The deleveraging remains unchanged as we continue to target a combination of adjusted EBITDA growth and consistent free cash flow generation. Operator, this concludes our prepared remarks. We would now like to open the line up for questions.

Speaker 3

Ultimately, the noteworthy top line trends I just

Speaker 0

Our first question today comes from Jordan Bender from JPMorgan. Jordan, your line

Speaker 1

is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, thanks for taking my question. Jordan from JMP. Kimo, on the last point there, you're talking about leverage and you kind of made

Speaker 3

a reference to leverage Fall

Speaker 5

into the mid-2s over time, as you look into next year leverage falling and free cash flow continuing to build, Is there kind of an updated view here on how the company views its strategic opportunities with a better balance sheet And maybe a little bit more of a certain environment. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Yes. It's a good question. I think the strategic view is the same. And I think the point of us emphasizing and I'm putting that number out there The North Star is really just to keep emphasizing how focused we are on deleveraging the business, right? And you look at, I think the strides that we've made in the operating performance of the company, we have a bunch of initiatives around working capital management in different areas.

Yes, I think you're starting to see the early days of us being able to consistently produce quarterly free cash flow. So I think we put that number out there more not again to change any kind of strategy or strategic view on the company, but more just To emphasize how focused we are on deleveraging the business.

Speaker 5

Great. And then You talked about Mechanical Rio. Can you just maybe talk about the rollout for that, and then maybe what that means for the overall mix of the company?

Speaker 3

So as far as rollout goes, like we said, sort of back half of the year, We'll probably be trying trialing some of this in some test banks, perhaps a little bit before that. As far as What it looks like for the company, I think it's really just maybe focus back on G2E a little bit and pre G2E is actually, Where we weren't actually demonstrating the product, but they we gave them a sneak peek into that and our jumbo cabinet. And we look at the lineup that we have right now with Spectra and really coming off Orion and not really just hardware, but their belief in our content, I think they're looking at the greater AGS portfolio and really saying, hey, this is a big step up, Big step function up for this company moving forward. And it just allows us to use all these tools in the toolbox for our guys to sell In a more comprehensive fashion, so having in the past only been, as we use the term, one swim lane, Now we're in multiple. We're in 4 or 5 swim lanes.

And this just gives our team a really fantastic opportunity To go out there and compete with the best of the best. So we feel great about the mechanical, real. We feel Fantastic about Jumbo. And of course, our entire lineup at G2E that was shown that was on the floor, but it does come down to content And that's where we have our most that's where we're absolutely most confident, the content, the game, the math itself.

Speaker 5

Thank you very much.

Speaker 0

Thank you. Our next question today comes from David Katz from Jefferies. David, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Good afternoon. This is a general question, but we're finding a lot of debate around Whether your customers as operators, how they behave in circumstances where revenue may slow down a little Or profits may get compressed a little bit on tough comps. What is your experience Dave And Kimo, with respect to that and how do they behave broadly speaking?

Speaker 3

Yes, Yes. I think that this is a nice, like a bit of a debate that we all have sort of examined Perhaps since I don't want to say the end of COVID because I just had COVID last week. But it's something that we all sort of been talking about And I think it's just as it depends on the regions. Regionals might do one thing. Vegas Strip

Speaker 4

type destination will be

Speaker 3

another thing. And then there's always tribal and Nation will be another thing. And then there's always Tribal and Canada. And I think for us, we know that we can put them into segments. Some of those will be much more conservative, David.

And then I think that there's others that sort of are in the middle and then I'll just be specific, Tribal and Canada tend to carry the day. They usually tend to be very consistent And at times even aggressive, because their businesses, they seem to really almost under, I don't want to say any circumstances, but in a mild pullback, they tend to do very well and they continue to be aggressive through Those times, I don't know if that's helpful, but I think that's how we break it down into 3 areas there, Which all told probably amounts to a fair bit of stability, David.

Speaker 6

Right. And so just to make sure I'm not paraphrasing incorrectly, When operators are making decisions about whether to renovate this or that or extend this or that, Those should be treated in most cases as a discrete decision set versus How many slots we're going to buy and why?

Speaker 4

Is that fair?

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, if you're talking about it's interesting. If you're talking about CapEx on spend on property specifically well across the entire property and not specifically response. I'd say That if you put us up against those a lot of operators post COVID, during COVID may have just looked at things a little differently and said, hey, If we're going to spend money, let's invest on the casino floor where we want to be competitive Against our operational competitors in the region or on the Strip or any of the like. And I think that Manufacturers, slot machines, table equipment, etcetera, have gotten a bit of a nod over Maybe some new carpet or some other I'll call it not as an operator and not as an expert there, Non revenue generating CapEx investments.

So I do think like specific to this question, this comment you just made about paraphrasing it, I think that we get the nod on a bunch of that stuff as CapEx can tighten.

Speaker 6

Thank you. That's perfect. Appreciate it.

Speaker 3

Thanks, David.

Speaker 0

Thank you. Our next question this evening comes from Jeff Banchal from Stifel. Jeff, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hey, good afternoon guys. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe starting out here on the EGM business, it looks like Domestic game ops installs about flat quarter on quarter. If I'm hearing you right, I think the narrative it sounds like Some of your optimization efforts used to be called pruning kind of offset the gross adds for curve Premium and for Spectra 43, is that a fair way to kind of characterize Q3 trends? And then if so, as we look to 2024, should we expect overall Similar albeit lumpy levels of kind of optimization, is this more of a tapering trend?

Just any thoughts there would help as we think about the outlook for Net growth in the domestic installed base. Thanks.

Speaker 3

Hey, thanks. So Q3 is Probably a little bit different than what you mentioned there, maybe not so much on the optimization front. In the second half of the year here and in Q3 we saw it right towards the end of the quarter. I'd call it some opportunistic Converting to sales by customers that their budgets reset at the end of Q3 For us, our Q3, the end of their calendar or the end of the year fiscal year is the end of the Q3 calendar year. So some of them, Let's say had some extra CapEx that may fall under the term use it or lose it.

And I would say, although I don't Love Convergent sales. We're honored that they're selecting our product because that means our product presents value And buying at that point in time. So I think what you're seeing there is a bit of outside of the normal Cadence of convert to sales mostly opportunistically by that user lose it type capital that's available. And you did ask like, hey, I'd say rather we'll be consistent in the way that we approach. I don't like to use the term pruning, but optimization.

We'll continue to optimize. We have an installed base that rivals many operators. Many regional operators Don't even have as many slots as we have out there in game ops. So obviously it's our responsibility to keep that up and I think that we'll be rather consistent. And bearing in mind when we say being good custodians of CapEx, We have a little bit more latitude when we have games like we've had on Spectre 43 and now what we're seeing on Spectre 49 And even some new games that I mentioned on Orion Curve, which is a little bit of an older cabinet, we have a little More latitude because with the game performance being higher, it's I'd say easier to be good custodians of the CapEx or the cash of our investors.

So, I think overall relatively consistent, but some, I'll call it, better opportunities.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. That's helpful. Thank you, David. And then turning to capital allocation, it looks like you ended the quarter with about $44,000,000 cash on hand. Kimo, do you have a number in mind For minimum cash, given your R and D initiatives and some of the macro uncertainty that we continue to deal with or I guess approached differently, we have a kind of a rough time frame in mind for when to expect free cash flow to start to be allocated to pay down on your term loan?

Thanks.

Speaker 4

I think as far as like a minimum cash level, we're pretty comfortable where we are now. We've never given you like an exact number, right? But I think we're pretty comfortable where we are now. I think again like just being focused On building the cash position as we move forward, which gives us like more flexibility, right? So I think, is there an exact number where we'll make that decision?

I think I wouldn't give you that number now and we'll see where and as we put the decision making in the sausage maker, right, we'll Figure out when is the right time to start paying down debt. I think what's more exciting, right, is as we build the cash position, We continue to execute and head on this path of where we're going. What's more exciting, I think, is when we get to an event Where we can perhaps reprice or refinance our debt structure right and maybe obviously target lowering our cash interest expense. So that's something that We're pretty focused on executing on something like that at this point.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. Thanks very much and nice quarter.

Speaker 3

Thanks.

Speaker 0

Thank you. Our next question comes from Barry Jonas from Chiu. Barry, your line is open. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 1

Hey, guys. This is Ramin Savani on for Barry. Thanks for taking our questions. There's been some regulatory noise in Mexico around a potential ban of slot machines. Can you talk about what you've heard on this and What you see as

Speaker 2

a likelihood of this happening?

Speaker 3

Yes. We hear about stuff like this. We think we see this periodically in Mexico. And I think I'm what am I coming up on 26 years in gaming. And this is not the first time It's come around as something that has been talked about.

I think sometimes it's used as a little bit of political saber rattling Prior to elections, nothing that we consider to be a serious conversation. We're pretty dialed into it, needless to say. And there's a lot of interested operating parties Down there that are very big companies that have not indicated that anything like this would be serious.

Speaker 7

Got it. Thanks for that.

Speaker 2

And then just taking a step back,

Speaker 1

in the past you've guided to an adjusted EBITDA margin Range of around 45% to 47%. Do you see a path to returning to margins at that level at some point? And if so, what would that path look like?

Speaker 4

I mean, again, not ready to throw out a target in the future for you, but I'll say that we are as a leadership team, right, and across the company, we are focused on incrementally improving EBITDA margin consolidated. So I think you're starting to see that now. Obviously, there's a lot of puts and takes, right? And there's a lot of different Variables that go into that. But again, not ready to put out a target, but we're intent on improving the margin as we move forward.

And I think We have the different tools in the toolbox to do that. Like some of the premium initiatives that David talked about, I think some of the new products that we're rolling out. I think you can see some of the initiatives we've already been working on. We're already gaining some, call it, SG and A leverage as we move through this year. We can expect to continue next year.

R and D is really the one that we're intent on continuing to call it spend at the similar rate that we do today. That's the one that will be ongoing. But again, intent on improving margin as we go forward, not ready to quite give you a target just yet.

Speaker 1

Got it. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Speaker 4

Yes. Thank you.

Speaker 0

Thank you,

Speaker 1

Barry.

Speaker 0

Our next question comes from Chad Beynon from Macquarie. Chad, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Thank you. Evening. Thanks for taking my question. Wanted to ask about Interactive 20% year over year growth, which was the strongest growth Within the segments, chemo, you talked about Q4 maybe slightly lower growth than that, but Really just wanted to have you guys expand a little bit in terms of what's working. Is it more titles, new markets?

I know Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey are the big markets, but at what point would you consider kind of moving into some of the bigger non North And markets, given your pipeline? Thanks.

Speaker 3

I mean, I'm just going to be a little more specific. When you speak of non North American markets, what do you specific like What would you refer to that as before I go answering a question that I don't 100% understand? I'm sorry for asking

Speaker 8

you a question. Sure. Other big iGaming markets Like the United Kingdom?

Speaker 3

Okay. United Kingdom. I mean, we do business in Europe At this time, I think that most of our opportunity still lies within North America. And I think if you look at Eilers and you look at our with game titles and if you look at sort of what we've done maybe over the last year or 2, and how we're just posting up Islanders right now in the top 5 for some of our game content, I think chat for us it's making sure that we're in Every jurisdiction with every customer that we can be in, in North America continue to do what we're doing in Europe because we are still doing it there, right? But Cadence of rollout of new titles.

And that's where we've made some of our investment and there's a A little bit of a nugget that we had in the prepared remarks there about we're going to offer New content through those investments that we've made. So A, we can put more content out with a better cadence and then B, We'll be in a situation where we can offer new game types. We'll get into those game types maybe on another call, But there are some of the most popular ones, even as simple as we released our first 3 real games, Mega Diamond. So 3 real games are very popular as you know. We released our very first one and it's the best game that we've ever released by a huge margin.

So That's what we're excited about. It's all about content for us. We think that content, content cadence and really just taking a team That we have a lot of confidence in from our R and D team, to our commercialization team and our leadership there. We're just very comfortable and very confident in what they're capable of doing.

Speaker 8

Okay, thanks. And then secondly, I wanted to ask about just EGM sales within your guide. On the Q4, you talked about Q4 sales higher than Q3, so that would effectively put you over the 5,000 ship share number for 23, Which is up over 25% year over year and it's I believe the highest in your history. Is this kind of a new baseline Foundation in terms of sales given your market share gaining story and how should we think about the seasonality if what we're seeing in 2023 Should be kind of how we should think about seasonality going forward? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, I Have to dive in specifically on the seasonality that we're seeing. I think it always can move a little bit there, Chad. But I think that we've got I'll sort of lean a little bit back on the prepared remarks that with what we showed at G2E, With the things that we didn't show physically, but we gave previews of at pre g2e and the content that we've been rolling out that we have Kind of momentum that we know we can look forward to sort of continued better days as far as not just Our install base game ops, RPD, etcetera, but as far as game sales goes and our ability to sell into, Let's say those additional swim lanes. So we're feeling good about where we're at and yes, some of your calculations are right there.

And as we move into 2024, Again, we're very confident with the lineup that we showed at G2E and the stuff that we're going to roll out in the back half of the year. Do you have anything to add to that?

Speaker 2

Yes. Chad, the only thing I would say to add is that from a seasonality perspective, we've grown our EGM unit sales sequentially for 10 of the last 11 quarters. I think it really speaks to the momentum that we see behind the product. It's truly resonating with the customers. I think a telltale sign of that is if you look at G2E, Each week since G2E, the amount of inbound interest and our demand for our products picked up each successive week.

I think it's important to remember that we're in the market today with the first of our Spectra family of cabinets, which implies there's more to come. 49 is launching here in Q4 and will gain momentum in Q1, where we'll have 2 distinct products in the market at the same time, Which really is a first for our company. And so I think we feel really good about the momentum that we have there With some of the additional new products and swim lane entrances to come in the back half of 'twenty four.

Speaker 8

Thank you, both. We're getting a little greedy here looking for 'twenty four commentary. Appreciate it.

Speaker 3

We appreciate it too. Thanks, Chad.

Speaker 0

There are no further questions on today's call, so I'd like to close the call here. And thank you all very much for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.