eServGlobal Share News (ESG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - eServGlobal Ltd saw its London-listed shares drop sharply early Tuesday, after shareholders rejected its remuneration report at an Annual General Meeting in Sydney and the company said it's trading in line with its expectations so far in the current financial year.

In a statement, the mobile payments company said it counted 34.1 million proxy votes for the remuneration report and nearly 67 million against.

Its AIM-listed shares were down 10.2% at 21.55 pence Tuesday morning, although its Australian Securities Exchange-listed shares had earlier closed up 2.1% at AUD0.480.

The news comes after the company's former Chief Executive and Managing Director Paolo Montessori stepped down with immediate effect on March 2, with Chief Operating Officer Stephen Blundell assuming executive responsibility for the company while the board looks for a successor for the CEO role.

eServGlobal withdrew another of the proposed resolutions for the AGM, the adoption of an employee share option plan.

In a separate AGM statement, the company said the search for Montessori's successor is progressing and it has begun interviewing selected candidates.

It said trading in fiscal 2015 has so far met its own expectations, which is to produce revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation that's at least in line with fiscal 2014.

"The board is mindful that we are a company of two parts - an established core business with increasing growth prospects and a start-up with high growth potential. We keep under continuous review the best ways in which to enhance shareholder value," it said.

"We have a healthy pipeline of ongoing work in the core business, which will positively impact FY2015. We continue to make strong progress and are expanding our footprint within the Zain Group, following the framework agreement announced in 2013 and now have live services in Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia," it added.

eServGlobal reported revenue of AUD31.3 million in the year to October 31, 2014, flat on the AUD31.0 million it reported a year earlier, while Ebitda rose to AUD28.6 million, from AUD7.3 million, thanks to a AUD31.7 million gain on its disposal of its former Homesend business into a joint venture with MasterCard and BICS last April.

eServGlobal Ltd could be set to invest a further EUR3.5 million in the HomeSend venture, according to the AGM statement, as the partners look to spend money on marketing, a new data centre and a banking licence.

The emerging markets mobile financial services provider said approval of the growth initiatives could prompt the partners to invest a maximum of EUR10 million later in 2015. MasterCard's 55% stake makes it the majority owner of HomeSend, while eServGlobal owns 35% and BICS holds 10%.

"We remain extremely positive about our investment in the Joint Venture and the HomeSend Board is considering opportunities to accelerate growth and capitalise on HomeSend's "first mover" advantage," eServGlobal said in the statement.

HomeSend, an international money transfer hub, was formed to enable customers around the world to send money to and from mobile money accounts, payment cards, bank accounts or cash outlets.

By Steve McGrath and Sam Agini; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini

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