Pollard Banknote has reported a 9.4% year-on-year rise in revenue for the three-month period ended Mar. 31.

The Winnipeg-based firm, a provider of products and solutions to lottery and charitable gaming industries, recorded revenues of $124.6m in Q1 2023, up from $113.9m in the same period last year.

Combined sales in the quarter, including its share of NeoPollard Interactive (NPi) joint venture sales, reached $143.1m, up 14.3% from the $125.2m in Q1 2022.

John Pollard, Co-Chief Executive Officer, observed: “Our overall financial results for the first quarter of 2023 reflected the underlying strong demand experienced for all of our products and solutions for the lottery and charitable gaming markets and, notwithstanding the inflationary head winds impacting our instant ticket segment, provide a foundation for continued growth throughout 2023 and beyond.

“In a number of markets including charitable gaming, eGaming systems and iLottery, we recorded solid earnings and remain confident these results will continue as we move through 2023. As previously noted, major challenges in our instant ticket business continued, as the accumulated effect of significant cost increases on our major inputs (paper, ink, packaging, freight) during 2022 fully impacted our margins this quarter.

“Despite these factors, our consolidated Adjusted EBITDA was only slightly lower than the same period in 2022. The growth in our first quarter combined sales of over 14% is an indicator of the strong demand for our offerings.”

The company’s adjusted EBITDA was $18.6m, compared to $19m in Q1 2022, while income from operations came in lower at $7.6m, representing a downturn on the $9.3m reported in the same period last year.

Reflecting on this, Pollard added: “We have not experienced any new cost increases since the start of 2023 and have seen some indications of small cost decreases as suppliers adjust to the current economic environment. While still very early, and these decreases are not yet material, it is a positive sign that perhaps in the future our current higher costs may start to trend lower.”

Pollard concluded: “We remain confident our repricing strategy will allow us to ultimately return to our historic margins. All of our product and solution offerings remain in high demand by our customers, and ultimately the end consumers.

“We are very optimistic this demand will continue and believe our strong partnership with our lottery and charitable gaming customers will allow us to help them continue to grow and generate significant funds for their good causes.”