Gaming success for Synectics

The Sheffield-based group reported a modest rise in revenue from £70m to £71m whilst underlying profit fell slightly from £3.0m to £2.9m.

Paul Webb, chief executive of Synectics, said the new business pipeline for 2019 is strong.

"Gaming has been a strong part of our business for the last couple of years," he said.

"There has been growth in Asia Pacific in new resorts. We thought it would be hard to continue growth, but following the Las Vegas deal last year, it has gone better than we expected.

"We have won more contracts in North America and it is set to continue. US casinos have outstripped Asia for the first time."

He said the group is seeing strong demand for its management systems which are all developed in Sheffield.

However, he said the group has seen a weak performance in the UK bus market.

"The industry as a whole is struggling," he said.

"Revenues at bus operators are falling and Government support has been reduced."

Following the loss of a contract with a London bus operator, the bus division has been resized.

"We think there is an opportunity to bring our technology into bus operations. We can bring new technology into play, but that is very much in the future."

Synectics was hit by the downturn in the oil and gas sector and had hoped for signs of recovery this year.

"Oil and gas was more than half of our profit. We thought we'd see the green shoots of recovery this year, but we're not expecting meaningful growth in oil and gas until 2020," said Mr Webb.