LONDON (Alliance News) - Earthport PLC Monday said its half-year pretax loss widened as a result of acquisition costs and an increase in headcount, but revenue grew by 81% and have continued to do so since the end of the reporting period.
In a statement, the AIM-listed cross-border payments company said it made a GBP4.8 million pretax loss for the six months ended December 31, 2013, compared with GBP4.5 million for the corresponding period in 2012, as a result of GBP440,000 in costs related to the acquisition of currency broker Baydonhill in November and increased headcount in its sales team.
Administrative expenses increased by 14% to GBP5.9 million as a result of the increase in headcount.
Revenue grew to GBP3.3 million from GBP1.83 million. Earthport said revenue growth was driven by the average revenue of its top ten clients more than doubling and the contribution from Baydonhill. The company said it achieve record revenue in January 2014, which was not included in the half-year results.
Earthport said the Baydonhill acquisition continues to provide "additional revenue channels and opportunities for the enlarged group".
Chief Executive Hank Uberoi said the combination of accelerating revenue growth and maintained margins is "encouraging".
And after signing a deal worth at least USD11.3 million with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in December, Uberoi had told Alliance News the future is bright.
"We are talking to a number of large, global banks and the talks are not casual," Uberoi told Alliance News in a telephone interview.
"It seems to me that Earthport is becoming accepted as the de facto standard for low-value cross-border payment as an alternative to correspondent banking," he added.
"Looking forward, we are confident in our abilities to continue to achieve traction with top-tier institutions, implement our service across the non-live clients, further expand our country coverage, and drive towards a positive cash flow position. Visibility has increased through contracts with minimum commitments, and we are on track to deliver on our forecasted revenue growth for the full year," Uberoi said in a statement Monday.
No interim dividend was declared.
Earthport shares were Monday quoted at 31.60 pence, up 0.60 pence, or 1.9%.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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