In line with the Trading Update the company issued in mid-January, payments services and technologies provider SafeCharge International Group Ltd (LON:SCH) has reported full year results indicating strong growth in the second half of 2017, led by record Revenues during Q4, helped by record transaction volume topping $1 billion in December – the company’s best ever month.
Financial and Operating Summary
| 31-Dec 2017 | 31-Dec 2016 | Change | |||
| Number of transactions (m) | 173.8 | 126.0 | +38% | ||
| Transaction value (US$m) | 9,637 | 8,082 | +19% | ||
| Own Acquiring transaction value (US$m) | 2,155 | 970 | +122% | ||
| Revenues (US$m) | 111.7 | 104.1 | +7% | ||
| Gross profit (US$m) | 64.5 | 60.7 | +6% | ||
| Adjusted EBITDA1 (US$m) | 33.7 | 33.3 | +1% | ||
| Cash flows from operations2 (US$m) | 32.3 | 30.8 | +5% | ||
| Reported profit after tax (US$m) | 23.8 | 26.6 | -11% | ||
| Cash conversion3 | 83% | 77% | |||
| Cash balances at year end | 108.9 | 115.4 | -6% | ||
| Diluted earnings per share (US$c) | 15.78 | 17.32 | -9% | ||
| Recommended final dividend per share (US$c) | 9.20 | 9.47 | -3% | ||
| Total dividend per share (US$c) | 16.89 | 16.47 | +3% | ||
Financial highlights
- Continued strong revenue growth to US$111.7 million (2016: US$104.1 million) driven by new customer wins and expanded relationships with existing customers
- Underlying Revenues4 growth of 17% on a comparable basis to the prior year, following the reshaping of the existing customer base undertaken in 2016 to upgrade the quality of revenues
- Excellent performance in H2 2017 with revenue growth of 11% in comparison with H1 2017
- Robust cash conversion of 83% (2016: 77%), and strong balance sheet with cash balances of US$108.9 million and no debt
- Total dividend of 16.89 US$ cents per share for 2017 (2016: 16.47 US$ cents)
Operational highlights
- Increase in transaction value by 19% to US$9.6 billion (2016: US$8.1 billion) with monthly volume exceeding US$ 1 billion for the first time in December 2017
- Excellent growth in value of transactions processed through SafeCharge Acquiring with c. 30% of the Group’s transaction volumes processed through its own acquiring platform in December 2017
- Successful launch of a fully serviced global payment solution to Tier 1 customers, including 888, Plus500, Bet365, Paddy Power and EuroBet
- Payment Institution licence granted by the UK Financial Conduct Authority in January 2018 – in addition to the existing authorisation as a European Electronic Money Institution
- Global expansion continues with the successful launch of WeChat Pay and integration to JPMorgan Chase in the United States, and opening of new offices in Singapore, the United States and the Netherlands
- Further strategic investment in Nayax completed in February 2018 to continue our expansion within the cashless payments industry
David Avgi, SafeCharge
David Avgi, CEO of SafeCharge, said:
I am pleased to report a strong set of results. We demonstrated excellent performance, particularly in the second half of the year, and made good progress on our organic growth strategy. We also continue to invest in our payment and risk management platform to drive future growth and are delighted that our customers recognise the benefits that SafeCharge’s payment solutions bring to them.
Whilst we continue to grow in our core vertical markets, the Group has made exciting progress in entering our new target sectors and geographies. During 2018 we will continue to focus and invest further to build our sales teams to accelerate our entry into new markets.
We look forward to the year ahead with optimism and remain confident that our focus on higher quality revenues driven by a healthy sales pipeline will yield profitable revenue growth in 2018 and beyond.
SafeCharge’s full report for 2017 results can be seen here.