SafeCharge Share News (SCH)

(Sharecast News) - SafeCharge International Group on Wednesday reported jumps in annual revenue and profit after the company won contracts with a number of major European businesses.For the year ended 31 December, the payment technology business recorded revenue of $138.5m, for an increase of 24% compared to the year before, though this resulted in just a 4% rise in profits before tax, which edged upwards to $27.2m.Revenue gains were largely offset by a 37% increase in cost of sales to $64.7m and a 16% increase in operating costs to $46.4m.Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA grew by 11% to $37.3m as SafeCharge said it continued to generate "significant" free cash flow from its operationsDavid Avgi, chief executive of SafeCharge, said: "The year 2018 was another period of strong financial performance and continued growth. We demonstrated excellent performance and successful entry into new markets and verticals. We have continued to innovate, develop and deliver our payment products and technologies, enabling us to deepen our relationships and win new business with large scale customers."The AIM traded company said it launched "a number of significant new Tier 1 customers in the year", including global ride sharing company Gett, online retail platform The Level Group, national Danish gaming operator Danske Spil and Italian licensed gaming and betting operator Snai.Further new customers, including Kiwi.com, Intralot, OnlineStore.IT and World Duty Free, will be launched during 2019."During 2019 we will continue to invest in building our sales teams to accelerate our entry into new markets, as well as to invest further in innovative products to our customers. We are only at the beginning of our journey. Our highly scalable proprietary Payments Engine has been designed to deliver superior performance translating into a better user experience and increased revenues for our customers," said Avgi.The board also issued guidance for the current year, with revenues expected to be in the range of $155m to $165m and Adjusted EBITDA between $40m and $42m as the company seeks continued growth from its existing client base and new customers due to start processing in 2019.Analysts from Shore Capital said: "The SafeCharge balance sheet offers material strength and opportunity and the Company continues to utilise this to back investment in organic development and continues to search for potential growth leverage from acquisitions. We look forward to another strong year of development through FY2019F."SafeCharge International Group's shares were down 3.70% at 286.00p at 1243 GMT