LONDON (Alliance News) - Online payments technology company MobilityOne Ltd Wednesday said it will exit Cambodia and Indonesia after losses in those countries helped push the whole company to a loss in 2013.
In a statement, the company said it expects to post a loss after tax for last year due to losses in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and a writedown on assets. It has yet to determine the size of the writedown.
The company, whose main operations are in Malaysia, said 2013 revenues were up on the year, driven by prepaid airtime reloads for mobile phones via the Group's banking channels and electronic data capture terminals in Malaysia.
It has already closed its office in Cambodia and has done a deal to sell its Indonesian unit for about 65 pence. It said it will stick with its Philippine operations as the unit started to generate small revenues in 2013 after it sold an e-payment product to a betting company. It will continue to explore opportunities in the country, particularly for electronic payment services.
MobilityOne said it expects its trading performance to improve in 2014 due to the unit closures and as revenues from prepaid airtime reload business continue to rise.
It said it has got approval from the central bank of Malaysia allowing it to open kiosk outlets at palm oil plantation operator Felda Trading Sdn Bhd's stores. It has already started trials using some temporary kiosks. Felda employs a large number of migrant workers.
It added that it has also bought a shell company in Malaysia called One Tranzact from its own chief executive for about 35 pence. It has applied for tax exemption status for the shell, which it intends to turn into a banking services technology unit serving some of its existing business partners. Its own current Malaysian unit will see its tax-exempt status expire on April 25, 2015.
MobilityOne expects to release its full 2013 results during June.
MobilityOne shares last traded at 2.625 pence.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1
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