Bucharest, November 24, 2011 - PayPoint plc, the leading cash, mobile and online payments operator in the UK, has announced that its Romanian business has continued to grow in the first half of financial year 2011-2012, as a result of continued development of its client portfolio and retail network, combined with operating efficiencies.
In this six month period, PayPoint processed over 8 million bill payment transactions in Romania, an increase of 69 % on the same period in the previous year, as new clients have gone live. At the same time, it has continued with its strategy of improving the quality of its retail network and optimising territorial coverage across the country.
Six new clients in the telecom and utilities sectors were signed up for payment collections in the period as the company concentrated on completing national coverage in those sectors by signing up regional providers, so increasing the number of consumers throughout the country able to pay their bills at PayPoint.
Since the end of the period, the Western Union money transfer service has gone live in a number of PayPoint retailers in Romania. This service will be progressively rolled out to a substantial portion of the network.
Mugur Dogariu, Managing Director, PayPoint Romania, said:
“The positive results we have achieved in the first six months of the year have demonstrated once again our ability to execute our strategy to meet our objectives, with the result that the business broke even during the period. We have more than 6,500 active points of sale nationwide in a retail network that successfully meets the target we set ourselves for quality, professionalism and optimised coverage. By rolling out more terminal sites and expanding the range of client payments we offer, we are providing more and more consumers with a very quick, easy and accessible payment method.”
The announcement was made as PayPoint plc issued its financial results for the six month period to 25 September, 2011. The group reported transaction volume of 292 million, up 9% compared to the same period in the previous year. Transaction value increased to over £5.5 billion (an increase of 16%) and net revenue of £41.9 million was up 8% on the same period of the previous year. Profit before tax of £15.8 million was 9 % ahead.
“For the current financial year, trading is in line with the company’s expectations. Our established business is strong…Continuing progress is expected in our developing business. Our Romanian retail network will focus on improving market share and further modest network growth to improve yield...”, said David Newlands, Chairman of PayPoint plc
In Romania, the company officially launched its bill payment service under the PayPoint brand in August 2008 and has expanded its client portfolio by signing partnerships with a range of companies in service sectors including utilities, financial - insurance, cable TV and mobile telecom. PayPoint Romania currently has signed 39 major clients in telecommunications, utilities and financial services, of which 32 are contracts for payment collection services.
Current clients include:
• Payments for utilities sector: CEZ Vânzare, GDF SUEZ Energy Romania, E. ON Gas Distribution, E. ON Energy Romania, E. ON Moldova Distribution; Petrom Gas Distribution; Congaz, Enel Energy, Enel Energy Wallachia, Electrica Transilvania Nord, Electrica Transilvania Sud, Electrica Muntenia Nord, Apa Nova Bucharest, ApaVital Iasi, Aquatim, Gaz Sud; Grup Dezvoltare Reţele, Wirom Gas.
• The telecommunications sector and cable communication: Cosmote Romania, Orange Romania, Vodafone Romania, Romtelecom, UPC Romania, Zapp TV, Akta TV, NextGen Communications.
• Banking sector: Allianz-Tiriac, Citibank Romania, EOS KSI Romania, GE Money, Patria Credit, UniCredit Tiriac.
PayPoint also offers top-up services for all mobile operators (Cosmote, Orange, Vodafone, Zapp), for landline operators providing international calls and Internet Service Providers. PayPoint clients include Nobel and Worldtelecom (Number One). For Focus Sat, PayPoint provides recharge vouchers for DTH service users.
ABOUT PAYPOINT
PayPoint is a leading international provider of convenient payments and value added services to major consumer service organisations in the utility, telecoms, media, financial services, transport, retail, gaming and public sectors. We handle over £11 billion from over 600 million transactions annually for more than 5,000 clients and merchants. We deliver payments and services through a uniquely strong combination of local shops, internet and mobile distribution channels.
Retail networks
PayPoint operates branded retail networks in the UK, Ireland and Romania. The network in the UK numbers over 23,000 local shops with our terminals, or the terminal software on retailers’ till systems, (including Co-op, Spar, McColls, Costcutter, Sainsburys Local, One Stop, Londis and thousands of independents) in all parts of the UK. These outlets process energy meter prepayments, cash bill payments, mobile phone top-ups, transport tickets, BBC TV licences and a wide variety of other payment types for most leading utilities and many telecoms and consumer service companies.
In Romania, the branded retail network numbers over 6,500 outlets across Romania and is expanding. These outlets process cash bill payments for utilities and mobile phone top-ups. In the Republic of Ireland, we have over 500 outlets in shops and Credit Unions processing mobile top-ups and bill payments.
We also supply added value services to our retail agents to improve the yield from our network. In the UK, we offer a consumer parcel drop-off and collection service using PayPoint’s retail network through Collect+, a joint venture with Yodel This service is already available in 4,200 of our convenience retail agents. Clients include ASOS, Littlewoods, New Look, Dorothy Perkins, Very, Virgin Media, Asda Direct, Argos Outlet, JD Sports Monsoon & Accessorize. In addition, in the UK, we have over 2,500 LINK branded ATMs.
Internet channel
PayPoint.net is an internet payment service provider, linking into all major UK acquiring banks to deliver secure online credit and debit card payments for over 5,000 web merchants, including PKR, Betsson, Moneysupermarket.com, Severn Trent Water, Ann Summers and British Gas Home Vend. We offer a comprehensive set of products ranging from a transaction gateway through to a bureau service, in which we take the merchant credit risk and manage settlement for the merchants. We offer real-time reporting for merchant transactions and FraudGuard, an advanced service to mitigate the risk of fraud for card not present transactions.
Mobile channel
PayByPhone is a leading international provider of services to parking authorities allowing consumers to use their mobile phones to pay for their parking by credit or debit card. It has contracts in the UK, Canada, USA and France. PayPoint is widely recognised for its leadership in payment systems, smart technology and consumer service. Our high quality services are backed by a 24/7 operations centre with dual site processing for business continuity.
PayPoint sustains its competitive differentiation by aiming to meet clients’ payment needs, not just through a wide spectrum of payments, but also with products that span payment channels. For example, PayCash enables cash payment for internet transactions at PayPoint retail agents and our new home vending solutions allow consumers to pay across the internet as well as through our retail network. Our combination of distribution channels makes us unique in this regard.
