UK payment platform PayPoint PLC (LON:PAY) reported a 1.4% increase in quarterly underlying revenue as transaction activity grew and the firm rolled out its service to more retail sites.
Underlying net revenue in the three months to December 31 rose to £30.9mln as the number of transactions increased by 0.9% to 174.2mln.
On a reported basis, including a one-off £1.3mln hit from the closure of the simple payments service by the Department for Works and Pensions and the impact of renegotiated Yodel parcel fees, revenue dropped 2.8%.
In the UK, underlying revenue edged up 0.9% to £27.2mln, boosted by growth in retail services. The Irish network of 426 sites was closed in October but this was offset by an increase in UK retail network sites to 28,505 at the end of December from 28,460 in September.
Card payment transactions in the UK increased by 23% to 28.8mln, led by a strong performance at ATMs. However, ATM net revenue fell by £0.2mln due to the reduced Link interchange fee that was put in place in July.
READ: PayPoint six-month pretax profit rises 4%, projects "progression in profit"
The parcels business, Yodel, saw volumes reduce by 3.2% to 6.8mln in the quarter while the Collect+ service continued to see strong demand.
PayPoint said it had a successful Christmas with a new partner, eBay, with more than 2,500 sites processing parcels and volumes expected to grow in future.
Bill payment underlying net revenue was flat at £13.2mln as a 43.6% jump in MultiPay transactions mitigated a 1.5% drop in PayPoint transactions.
Top-up and money transactions declined 15% to 11.1mln due to drop in the pre-paid mobile sector.
The group had net cash of £52.1mln at the end of the period, up from £39.4mln at the end of September.
Chief executive Dominic Taylor said: "PayPoint has reported another solid quarter with good progress being made across all our key growth drivers. We continue to rollout PayPoint One, now operating in over 12,000 convenience retailers and we have increased our year-end target to 12,700 sites.
"Our solid underlying net revenue growth and continued strong cost management in the quarter mean that the board's full-year expectations remain in line with the outlook provided in November."