LONDON (Alliance News) - Voucher and prepaid card provider Park Group PLC on Thursday said it is trading in line with its expectations as it approaches "the busiest period of the year".
In a statement to be made at the company's annual general meeting later today, Chairman Laura Carstensen noted the seasonality of the business "which is usually loss making in the first half, as over three quarters of revenue is generated in the second half of the year".
Carstensen said, as such, its full year results will be determined over the coming calendar months as it completes the deliveries for its prepaid consumer customers and processes orders for its corporate and e-commerce customers.
"Cash balances, including monies held in trust, are around GBP18.0 million ahead of this time last year at GBP200.0 million. This increased figure largely reflects the growth in our order books, principally for the highly seasonal consumer business," the chairman said.
The order book for the consumer business is 4.0% ahead of the prior year, thanks to Park's marketing campaign for 2016 which ended a few months ago, the chief executive said.
Meanwhile Park has "further enhanced" its Everyday Benefits proposition within its corporate business, and has expanded its digital offering with new products and services.
Carstensen noted the business was continuing to progress its relationship with payments company MasterCard Inc and was working towards launching its first MasterCard product under its own issuing licence.
"The importance of new product development is at the heart of Park's progress and success on both the consumer and corporate sides of our business, and we continue to utilise the latest trends and developments in information technology and mobile smart devices to keep ahead," Carstensen said.
Park also said on Thursday it has appointed John Gittins to its board as a non-executive director. Gittins is the former finance director of professional services firm Fairpoint Group PLC and sits on the board of soft drinks maker Nichols PLC.
Shares in Park were up 4.4% at 73.50 pence on Thursday morning.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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