PayPoint PLC (LON:PAY) shares rose Thursday after the payments and parcel services provider posted a decline in net revenue for the six months to September 30, but said strategic moves have helped bring in a 4.0% increase in pretax profit.
The FTSE All-Share index constituent said during the period its PayPoint One electronic point of sales system was installed in 10,242 sites, an increase of 1,692 since March 31. The average weekly service fee per PayPoint One site has risen to £15.01 from £14.29, and total service fee revenue grew by 39.8% to £4.8 million.
It also said that 2,500 of its Collect+ sites are now live as part of a partnership with ebay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and “we remain focused on delivering at least two additional carriers in 2019,” said PayPoint in a statement.
"At Collect+ volumes down 15.9% as only Yodel is included in these results, but [an] exciting strategic partnership with e-bay is up and running," said Liberum in a note Thursday.
For the six month period, pretax profit rose 4.0% to £25.3mln from £24.4mln a year ago, and operating margin rose to 45.8% from 43.1%.
Net revenue fell 1.6% to £55.6mln from £56.5mln, but overall revenue rose 8.7% to £106.1mln from £97.6mln a year ago.
PayPoint said underlying net revenue growth was driven by a 39.8% rise in UK service fee revenue, and growth of 33.2% in Romania to £6.8 million, which was partially offset by a decline of £300,000 in UK bill payment and top-up net revenue.
Dominic Taylor, PayPoint’s CEO, said: “The good performance of the first half underpins the Board's confidence that as PayPoint's growth drivers continue to develop there will be progression in profit before tax for the full financial year to 31 March 2019."
Shares of PayPoint rose 3.1% to 831.04p early Thursday morning.