(Alliance News) - PayPoint PLC is celebrating a positive year as the group said on Thursday that it anticipates continued revenue growth and a high anticipated pretax profit.
The Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire-based payment services company said its profit before tax was predicted to be "at the top end of the range of market expectations".
PayPoint further stated that its net revenue for the financial year ended March 31, excluding the recently acquired gifting and engagement company Appreciate Group PLC, was expected to be around GBP125.0 million. This represents an 8.6% increase on its revenue of GBP115.1 million the previous year.
PayPoint said that it has continued to grow its retailer estate, and delivered a strong Business Finance performance with over GBP12.5 million lent via YouLend. "We have ended the year with our strongest ever sales performance and a largely full-strength sales team," the group added.
"This positive momentum has been supported by our most competitive and attractive proposition ever and allied with a more detailed focus on customer service and retention, leveraging our [artificial intelligence] and data analytics capabilities."
PayPoint credited ongoing strong progress in digital transactions, and a resilient performance by the energy sector, with driving its net revenue growth in Payment and Banking. The group said that GBP246 million of Energy Bills Support Scheme vouchers had been redeemed across 28,000 retail partners, and noted the roll-out of its Confirmation of Payee service with the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero.
PayPoint also said that trading in Appreciate was in line with expectations across all channels. A small operating loss was incurred in March, which PayPoint attributed to the business's seasonal nature, saying that any profit was likely to be mainly generated in the third quarter.
Nick Wiles, chief executive of PayPoint, commented that the group had experienced "another positive year", and was "entering the new financial year in a materially enhanced position".
He said: "We will continue to invest in growth areas across the group in the coming year, particularly in card processing, Open Banking, digital payments and the Appreciate Group, to enhance our capabilities, unlock opportunities and accelerate our growth.
"All of this underlines our confidence in delivering further progress in the new financial year, with the acquisition of Appreciate Group, delivering as indicated at the time of acquisition, an earnings enhancement in our first full year of ownership."
PayPoint also has said that it will announce its preliminary results for the latest financial year in early July. The group said that it had needed to delay the announcement in order to complete statutory accounting and audit work related to its acquisition of Appreciate Group.
Shares in PayPoint were up 1.2% at 459.10 pence on Thursday in London.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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