Equals Group Plc (LON:EQLS) shares were higher on Wednesday after the firm announced plans for new product launches after a strong first half.
The e-banking and payments group, which changed its name from FairFX in June, said turnover for the six months ended 30 June rose 17.5% year-on-year (YOY) to £1.3bn, in line with its expectations, while revenue margins “slightly improved” as the effects of supply chain rationalisation outweighed the impact of the strongest growth being in its lower-margin products.
READ: FairFX Group name change to Equals Group takes effect from start of trading Thursday
The group’s banking arm saw the strongest rise in turnover, up 36.7% YOY to £358.6mln, while corporate expenses jumped 34.7% to £102mln and international payments rose 14.4% to £636.3mln.
The only area to report a decline was Equal’s travel money business, which saw turnover fall by 8.9% to £158mln as a result of the group cancelling some “low margin” travel cash affiliate partnerships. However, the impact on future revenues is expected to be minimal.
Looking ahead, the company said it is confident of achieving its expectations for the full year and will be rolling out a series of new products in the second half of 2019.
The group added that having secured access to the American market following a deal with Metropolitan Commercial Bank, it will be commencing work on the launch of its ‘Equals Spend’ corporate platform in the US later this year.
"The performance of Equals during the first half of 2019 clearly demonstrates the success of the Group's strategy and its diversified and evolving business model”, said Ian Strafford-Taylor, the company’s chief executive.
“The wider regulatory permissions we now have both in the UK and the US combined with the depth of our connectivity to the payment networks will enable us to continue our growth in 2019 and beyond", he added.
In early trading, Equals shares were 1.9% higher at 127.4p.