Australian poker machine manufacturer may move to Malta

by Franco Aloisio

The Sydney-based poker-machine maker - Aristocrat Leisure - is planning to move its management team out of Australia to other countries, including Malta.

The Australian Financial Review reported that Aristocrat Leisure is the world's second-biggest poker-machine manufacturer and that apart from Malta, other countries being considered are Switzerland, Greece, France, Sweden and Croatia.

By setting base elsewhere, Aristocrat Leisure would be following in the footsteps of other Australian multinationals such as Lend Lease and Computershare.

Aristocrat Leisure has just announced a 20.6 per cent jump in net profit to US$27.15m, buoyed by surging revenues in the promising US market, which offset a slump in the local returns.

Chief executive officer Des Randall said pressure for an offshore move for the Sydney-based company would gather momentum when the company began earning more than half its revenues from offshore, expected within the next two years. At present, no decision had been made on a move, he said.

Several on-line gambling companies have moved their operation to Malta after the Maltese government provided financial incentives to this booming sector. These include O' Halloran, Stanley Leisure Group and Heathorn International.