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Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/101717
In business the economy banking casino supplier SHFL reports record revenue, profits Small-business lending on the rise, locally and nationally By Ron Sylvester staff writer By Pashtana Usufzy staff writer Small-business lending locally and nationally is on the upswing, members of the banking community say. "We are definitely in a recovery stage, and the graph is an extreme positive spike," said Lester Romero, an assistant vice president at Wells Fargo Bank. During the first three quarters of 2012, Wells Fargo saw a national increase of $11.4 billion in small-business primary loans. Romero said he expects the upward trend to continue this year. Lending to small businesses nationally rose 11 percent from September to October, according to the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index. Local bankers say the steady increase is helping Nevada's economy recover. Alfred Soboyejo, senior vice president for small-business banking at SHFL entertainment Inc. reported a record-breaking year of revenue and profits in its first quarterly earnings report since changing its name from Shuffle Master. The company set records for quarterly and year-end revenue, with double-digit increases over 2011. The growth was fueled by sales of its electronic shufflers and global sales of table games and slot machines. The company, which began by building automatic shufflers in 1982, changed its name in October to reflect its growing offerings for casinos. The fourth quarter marked the 16th consecutive quarter of revenue growth, led by increases of more than 20 percent in its table games and slot machine sales in Asia and Australia. Fourth-quarter revenue jumped 12 percent to $73.8 million. The company ended the year with $259 million in revenue, a 14 percent | 7 JANUARY 2013 20130107_VI09_F.indd 9 | increase over 2011. Adjusted operational profits grew 17 percent over last year to $87 million. All were company records. SHFL saw its most impressive revenue growth in electronic table games (up 37 percent to $10 million), specialty table games (up 23 percent to $13.8 million) and slot machines (up 6 percent to $24.9 million). The company also increased revenue from its automatic shufflers by 8 percent, to $13.8 million, over last year. The company paid off its remaining revolving line of credit in the fourth quarter. On Oct. 31, 2011, it had a net debt of $17.1 million. This year, the company reported cash and equivalents of $24.2 million. More than half of the company's revenue came from markets outside the United States, including Macau, Singapore, Australia and Latin America. The company is looking to expand its sales in Canada next year. Bank of America, said his team approved loans worth $155.1 million between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, a 23.6 percent increase from the previous year. He credits low interest rates and the stabilizing commercial real estate market for the increase in lending. "Those are really good signs that the economy is getting better," he said. Bruce Ford, a senior vice president at City National Bank, agreed. "If there's a silver lining to the economy that has been down, it's that real estate prices came down," he said. Ford said his company has seen an overall increase in loans from September 2011 to September 2012, from $12.2 billion to $13.7 billion. He said he expects in-state small-business lending to increase next year. "We believe it has grown because the economy is recovering," he said. Ford said City National hopes to aid in the recovery by making loans more accessible. 9 1/3/13 2:20:20 PM