Aristocrat trading halt???, page-3

Aristocrat makes play on US market Aristocrat makes play on US market
20-September-2002
Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ALL) has recently launched a major campaign to become one of the top two players in the giant US market, a company executive said on Thursday.

Mr Kent Young, vice president of marketing at Aristocrat, said the Australian company plans to capture about 20% of the North American slot machine market by 2005, more than three times the 6% it holds now.

In preparation for the blitz, the world's second biggest slot machine maker recently acquired a minor U.S. slot machine maker, and undertook a major expansion of its own facilities.

Mr Young was reported by Reuters as saying: "We're really looking to the U.S. for growth, very much going global as a company."

However, Young admitted that it would face a much bigger battle to gain the top position from current holder International Game Technology, which estimates its control at about 70% of the US market.

Aristocrat would instead focus on picking up share from many of the industry's smaller players, Mr Young said.

In the first half of 2002, Aristocrat posted a 32% rise in NPAT to $41.6 million on the back of sales of nearly $439 million.