Half yearly financial report for the 6 months ended 30 September 2014

HIGHLIGHTS

	6 months ended 30 September 2014	6 months ended 30 September 2013	Increase
Revenue	£104.3m	£102.2m	2.1%
Net revenue¹	£57.9m	£54.1m	7.0%
Gross margin	48.0%	45.0%	3.0ppts
Operating profit³	£22.4m	£21.2m	6.0%
Profit before tax	£22.5m	£21.3m	5.5%
Diluted earnings per share	26.0p	24.0p	8.3%
Dividend per share (full period)⁴	12.4p	11.4p	8.8%

Operating highlights

Good performance from retail networks, net revenue up 8.1%
Romanian bill payment transactions grew 53.0% including contribution from new road tax contract
Total retail network sites up, to 36,753, and Collect+ now over 5,800 going into Christmas peak
Mobile and Online transactions up 11.3% to 70.3 million, with strong parking transaction growth
New developments in areas including smart meters and advanced payments platforms

Financial highlights

Record first half group transaction volumes at 373.4 million, up 6.1%
Operating profits² up 6.0%, lower than net revenue growth due to investments made in the first half
Robust balance sheet with cash of £28.7 million
Increase in interim dividend by 8.8% to 12.4p

Dominic Taylor, Chief Executive of PayPoint, said:

“I am pleased to report continued growth in net revenue and operating profits in the first half of this financial year, demonstrating the quality of our businesses and our retail channels. Our Collect+ joint venture continues to grow and the combination of our Mobile and Online business, which we announced in March this year, is progressing satisfactorily.

Looking ahead, we expect our retail networks in the UK and Romania to continue to deliver profitable growth from our breadth of services and extensive client base. We will continue to invest in network expansion, innovative retail technology and new services to improve retail network quality further. We anticipate that this will enhance our competitive advantages and increase retail yield. The integration of our Mobile and Online businesses under the unified group brand and investment in product development is expected to unlock better growth opportunities for the group.

Trading since 30 September 2014 is in line with our expectations.”

Enquiries

PayPoint plc (telephone: 01707 600 317)
Dominic Taylor, Chief Executive
George Earle, Group Finance Director

Finsbury (telephone: 0207 251 3801)
Rollo Head
Charlotte Whitley

A presentation for analysts is being held at 11.45am today (27 November 2014) at Finsbury Group, Tenter House, 45 Moorfields London EC2Y 9AE

The full announcement is available here

1. Net revenue is revenue less the cost of mobile top-ups (where PayPoint is principal), SIM cards and other costs incurred by PayPoint, which are recharged to clients and merchants. These other costs include retail agent commission, card payment merchant service charges and costs for the provision of call centres for PayByPhonhe clients. Net revenue is a measure which the directors believe assists with a better understanding of the underlying performance of the group.

2. Operating profit including our share of joint venture results.