February, 23, 2010

The company's loss of $157.8 million in 2009 comes after a profit of $101.2 million the previous year.Aristocrat says the result was also due to some bad debt charges and the provision of $187 million for a potential damages liability in the United States.Aristocrat's chief executive officer, Jamie Odell, says last year's uncertain economic environment and the subsequent fall in consumer confidence is reflected in the company's earnings.

"In the 12 months to December 31, we faced challenging trading conditions across all major gaming markets," he said."Operators were highly cautious in terms of capital spend, and many new venue openings were either cancelled or deferred during the reporting period."Aristocrat will not pay a final dividend and says the difficult market conditions for the gaming industry are expected to continue this year.

.

.