1 Nov 2018 07:00
1 November 2018
Earthport plc
("Earthport", the "Company" or the "Group")
Restatement of Fair Value Adjustments
Earthport (AIM: EPO.L), the leading payment network for cross-border transactions, today provides an update regarding the restatement of fair value adjustments relating to Earthport FX Limited (previously Baydonhill) ahead of the announcement of its preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2018, which are scheduled to be released later this month.
Following the appointments of Amanda Mesler and Alexander Filshie, as CEO and CFO respectively, a review has been conducted of the accounting for forward foreign exchange transactions in one of the Group's subsidiaries, EPFX Limited. As a result of this review, the Board has become aware of a number of reporting errors relating to the incorrect treatment of forward foreign exchange contracts in prior years.
These accounting errors were identified as part of the review of Earthport's reporting system and controls and management and the Board are in the process of implementing internal control and reporting improvements to prevent the recurrence of such errors.
The review has resulted in prior year adjustments as follows: a £0.2 million increase in the fair value loss, to £5.0 million, in the year ended 30 June 2017: a reduction in the net assets of the Group by £6.3 million to £16.6 million as at 30 June 2017: a reduction in the net assets of the Group by £6.2 million to £24.3 million as at 30 June 2016. These prior year adjustments do not affect the current cash position of the Group. They do, however, reduce the Group's previously reported retained earnings at 30 June 2017 by £6.3 million to £(158.3) million.
As announced in the trading update released on 25 July 2018, the underlying financial performance of the Group for the year ended 30 June 2018 remains unchanged as outlined below:
· Revenue grew by approximately 5.3% to £31.9 million (FY 2017: £30.3 million);
· Adjusted gross margin decreased by 1.2% to 67.1% (compared to 68.3% in FY 2017) due to network delivery costs and mix of business;
· Administrative expenses increased by approximately 9.1% to £28.8 million (FY 2017: £26.4 million), representing 90% of revenues (FY 2017: 87%);
· The loss after tax for FY 2018 was approximately £7.7 million (FY 2017: £12.2 million - previously reported loss for FY 2017 of £12.1 million, adjusted by fair value adjustment restatement).
· The cash Balance at 30 June 2018 amounted to £28.3 million, compared to £11.9 million at 30 June 2017. This includes net proceeds of £24 million raised in October 2017.
Earthport's preliminary results will be released in November 2018 and a Notice of Results announcement will be issued in due course.
For further information, please contact:
Earthport Plc 020 7220 9700
Amanda Mesler, Chief Executive Officer
Alexander Filshie, Chief Financial Officer
Newgate 020 7653 9848
Bob Huxford/Ian Silvera/Imogen Humphreys
N+1 Singer (Nomad & Joint Broker) 020 7496 3000
Mark Taylor/James White
Shore Capital (Joint Broker) 020 7408 4090
Toby Gibbs/Stephane Auton
About Earthport
Earthport provides cross-border payment services to banks and businesses. Through a single relationship with Earthport, clients can seamlessly manage payments to almost any bank account in the world, reducing costs and complexity to meet their customers' evolving expectations of price, speed and transparency.
Earthport offers clients access to global payment capability in 200+ countries and territories, with local ACH options in 88 countries and an evolving suite of currencies and settlement options.
Earthport continues to invest in the establishment of in-country bank partnerships across the world, bringing together its deep market and regulatory expertise in order to maintain compliant and commercially competitive services.
The result - a global payments network accessed via a single relationship, delivering significant cost and operating efficiencies for banks and businesses servicing high volumes of lower value payments.
Headquartered in London with regional offices in New York, Dubai, Miami and Singapore, Earthport is a public company, traded on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: EPO).
Please visit www.earthport.com for more information.