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Payment technology firm PayPoint has reported “another positive” year of sales and profits growth as it continnued to expand its base of retailer partners.
Net revenues from continuing operations in the year ended 31 March increased 13.6% to £145.1m, driven by “a strong contribution” from specialist card payments and card terminal leasing businesses Handepay and Merchant Rentals and supported by acquisition of secure digital voucher system I-Movo and electronic payments provider RSM 2000.
Pre-tax profits, excluding one-off items, also rose 25% to £45.6m in the year.
Its shopping divisional revenues jumped 46.2% to £58.7m thanks to the increased sales from Handepay and Merchant Rentals, the roll out of PayPoint One to additional retailer sites and new offerings such as Counter Cash and the Snappy Shopper home delivery partnership.
PayPoint’s UK retail network increased to 28,254 sites, up from 28,067 in the prior year, with 69% in independent retailer partners and 31% in multiple retail groups.
The Handepay business grew from 106.4 million transactions to 145 million in the year and the PayPoint card business increased by 3.5% year on year to 217.8 million transactions.
The home delivery partnership with Snappy Shopper continued to grow, with 269 sites live and positive sales growth, PayPoint said.
The group’s e-commerce division saw revenues increase 36.2% to £4.9m as transactions grew by 25.2% to 33.3 million through the Collect+ technology platform, driven by the group’s best-ever peak Christmas performance.
Chief executive Nick Wiles said: “This has been another positive year for the PayPoint Group as we continue to build on transforming the business to deliver a significantly enhanced platform to drive strong shareholder returns. We opened up further growth opportunities across the business and delivered a broader range of innovative services and technology connecting millions of consumers with an expanded base of over 60,000 retailer partners and SME locations across multiple sectors.
“We have registered a strong financial performance for the year against the backdrop of growing macroeconomic uncertainty, disruption in energy markets and an acceleration of cost pressures. In response, we have been relentlessly focused on operational excellence and the rapid delivery of our strategic priorities.”
He added: “We are confident the steps we have taken during the financial year have enhanced the business and better positioned us to deliver growth. As a result, despite some continued headwinds, we are confident of delivering further progress in the year ahead and meeting expectations as we take advantage of the accelerated growth opportunities across our key markets.”
Shares in the group increased 1.4% to 584.8p in early trading this morning.
Morning update
After a busy start to the week for grocery and fmcg updates, newsflow has dropped off today with little market news.
The FTSE 100 continued its positive trajectory, climbing 0.2% to 7,539.1p in the early going.
SSP Group continued to go from strength to strength, rising another 2.8% to 265p so far.
Other early risers included AG Barr, M&S and Sainsbury’s, up 1.1% to 558p, 1.2% to 140.3p and 0.7% to 230.9p respectively.
Ocado investors remained downbeat today, with shares in the group falling another 0.8% to 763.4p.
It was joined in the red by Britvic, Nichols and Imperial Brands, down 0.8% to 821p, 1.9% to 1,310p and 0.2% to 1,815.8p respectively.
Yesterday in the City
The FTSE 100 was on the front foot once again yesterday, rising 0.5% to 7,522.75pts.
It was mixed day for Marks & Spencer and its joint venture partner Ocado.
M&S shares experienced a volatile days with ups and downs as markets tried to weigh up the benefits of a strong financial performance with warnings that the cost-of-living crisis would dent profits in the current financial year. Shares ended the day 0.5% higher at 132.9p.
Ocado, on the other hand, slumped 3.6% to 737.2p - a four-year low as the stock saw more than 50% of its value disappear this year so far. It came after Ocado Retail - its online jv supplying shopping for M&S - dialled back its outlook for the year as inflation had an impact on average basket sizes.
Elsewhere, Pets at Home soared 11.2% as outgoing CEO Peter Pritchard bowed out on a high after the retailer posted record results thanks to a boom in puppy and kitten ownership.
Other risers yesterday included THG, back up 2.8% to 140.6p, and SSP Group, which soared again by 6.7% to 260.4p followed news of its recovery on Tuesday. SSP is now up 16% in the past week.
Cranswick, Virgin Wines UK, Greencore Group and Hilton Foods Group were among the losers, falling 4.5% to 2,994p, 2.9% to 102p, 2.6% to 107.5p and 2.5% to 1,156p respectively.
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