Newly Public PlayAGS Take its Table Games International
Slot machine-maker PlayAGS made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, and CEO David Lopez sees opportunity for growth both in the U.S. and abroad.
“We’re actually entering the Philippines in the Latin bingo space right now,” he told Cheddar. “That’s about a 70,000-unit market...Then in Brazil...if a new law goes into effect you’ll see 500,000 or so video bingo machines come online.”
The company, which primarily serves the Native American Market, brought in revenues of $154 million in the first nine months of 2017 and swung to a profit of $13.6 million for that period.
And though the gaming industry has come under pressure from the rise of online and mobile gambling, Lopez says he’s not worried about his casino games getting poached.
“It’s a little bit of a training ground for brick and mortar...If you talk about millennials you think, ‘Hey, when are those millenials going to walk into those casinos and start gambling?’ Well some of it starts on their phone.”
PlayAGS, backed by private equity firm Apollo Investment, sold 10.3 million shares at $16 apiece in its IPO, valuing it at the low end of its expected range at about $550 million.
The stock, which trades under the ticker “AGS”, rose more than 15 percent in its first day of trading.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/playags-rings-nyse-opening-bell-to-celebrate-ipo).
It has been a record year for luxury automaker Rolls-Royce despite the industry struggling to meet demand overall due to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage. CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös joined Cheddar to discuss the driving factors behind the company's 2021 success. He said after the pandemic forced the closure of factories in 2020 and people stopped making large purchases, they were open to spending more in 2021. "The entire luxury sector was fueled by there's money available, and people are prepared to spend money," he said.
John Deere is getting on board the autonomous vehicle craze with its own self-driving tractors. The farming and forestry equipment manufacturer made the announcement at the 2022 CES convention in Las Vegas. Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at John Deere, spoke to Cheddar about the shift to self-driving to agriculture and how it will help farmers produce even more food as the world's population continues to grow. "It's all about trying to do more with less in farming," he said. "Labor's already a problem on the farm, and it's only getting to be more of a problem in the future. And we really view autonomy as a way to solve that problem."
John Grant, a senior analyst at OAG, and Jonathan Root, an airline analyst at Moody's, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into how mass cancellations are affecting both travelers and airlines after more than 5,000 U.S. flights were scrapped over the weekend. In addition to staff shortages linked to COVID-19, inclement weather reportedly also played a major role in the canceled flights, but Root downplayed the effect on revenues. "We're not concerned about the financial impact, which is going to be very manageable," he said. "We see these conditions as temporary with a favorable outlook as we pass the omicron wave."
Analytics firm Needham is predicting 2022 to be the "year of grocery" for the ride-hailing and food delivery company Uber. Despite early predictions of a drop-off in the food delivery sector, it has remained Uber's top-earning sector.
President Biden's disapproval rating hit a new high in December according to a poll from CNBC and Change Research, as Americans expressed their disapproval over the current state of the economy. This comes just months after the president signed a historic infrastructure bill back in November that was promised to bring a surge of jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector.
Change Research Senior Pollster Nancy Zdunkewicz spoke to Cheddar News about just what is driving the President’s disapproval rating.
