Last week saw Spanish gaming firm Codere release its financial results for the six months to the end of June showing that it had experienced a 7.2% increase year-on-year in operating revenues to just over $975.5 million.

The Madrid-based firm hailed a “strong performance” in Mexico and Argentina that saw its second-quarter operating revenues improve by 6.6% year-on-year to almost $490.4 million although its operations in Italy and Colombia posted comparable decreases. It stated that Argentina alone contributed $359.4 million in first-half takings while Mexico had brought in some $201.2 million.

“Operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization increased by $66.5 million, or 8.9%, to $817.9 million primarily due to an increase in costs in Argentina, [which included] higher gaming taxes, Spain and Mexico of $45.7 million, $11.7 million and $6.5 million respectively, partially offset by a $6.1 million reduction in costs in Italy,” read a statement from Codere.

Codere declared an operating profit of nearly $77.3 million for the most recent six-month period, which compared favorably with a deficit of over $1.4 million for the corresponding period in 2016, while its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization had rocketed up by 42.5% year-on-year to slightly in excess of $145 million.

“The operating profit margin increased to 7.9% in the first half of 2017 from minus 0.2% in the same period last year where operating profit was minus $1.4 million due to financial restructuring costs and impairment charges booked in Carrasco Nobile,” read the statement from Codere. “Excluding all non-recurring items and impairment charges, first-half operating profit was $89.8 million, a 9.2% operating profit margin, 0.8 percentage points below that of the first half of 2016.”

As such, the firm moreover stated that its half-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization stood at $157.6 million while its net income still remained in red to the tune of $600,000 although this was far better than the over $1.3 billion shortfall reported for the first half of last year.

“Interest expenses increased by $24.6 million to $44.7 million, which reflects a substantially lower cost of our funding in the period versus our legacy debt capitalization,” read the statement from Codere. “Interest income decreased by $478,690 to $2.5 million.”

Finally, Codere revealed that it held cash and equivalents on June 30 of $174.4 million while its total liquidity stood at approximately $268.1 million.