PayPoint PLC on Thursday reported a lower statutory profit due to its expansion of Love2Shop, but it declared a higher dividend as revenue jumped.
The Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire-based payment services provider said in the six months to September 30, pretax profit declined 18% to £17.2 million from £21.0 million a year prior.
Revenue jumped 68% to £126.5 million from £75.4 million.
The company raised its interim dividend per share by 3.3% to 18.6 pence from 18.0p a year prior.
Notably, the company incurred a £19.3 million cost for its Love2shop expansion. In October, PayPoint said it had completed a ‘significant’ expansion of the Love2shop gift card offering in partnership with 21 of the UK’s leading multiple retailer groups.
Further, the cost of single-retailer cards & vouchers was £27.7 million in the just-posted half-year, compared to no such a cost a year ago.
Looking ahead, Chief Executive Nick Wiles said: ‘Encouragingly, our trading momentum in the business has remained strong into the second half of the year. We continue to identify new opportunities to innovate and leverage our platform and the unique strengths of our extensive client base, accelerate the onboarding of new client business, while delivering a strong performance in our important seasonal businesses in parcels, Park Christmas Savings, Love2shop and energy. Our continued focus on execution underpins our confidence in delivering a strong second half, further progress for the year and the group trading in line with expectations.’
He added: ‘Our compelling characteristics of strong cash flow and resilient earnings remain constant, and our materially enhanced platform is positioned to deliver sustainable and profitable growth for our shareholders, and further progress in the delivery of these objectives in the current year.’
PayPoint shares were 0.9% lower at 525.00 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.
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