PayPoint Plc Preliminary Results for Period ended 30 March 2008
22 May 2008

 53 weeks52 weeks 
 endedended 
 30 March25 March 
 20082007Increase
 £m£m%
Revenue21215735
Net Revenue (1) (2)705821
Operating Profit292516
Profit before tax302714
Basic earnings per share31.1p27.7p12
Proposed final dividend per share10.4p9.1p14
    

  • Strong growth in both revenues and operating profit driven by a 22% increase in transaction volumes
  • Consumer satisfaction 98% [3]
  • Like for like operating margin [2],[4]  of 46% against 44% last year
  • Earnings per share 31.1p, up 12%
  • Total dividend for the year 15.7p per share, up 15%
  • UK and Ireland network expanded by 13% to 19,878 terminal sites
  • First full year for our rapidly growing internet payment service business
  • International expansion through the acquisition of Pay Store in Romania

David Newlands, Chairman of PayPoint, said "PayPoint has delivered another set of strong results with increases in both revenues and profits. We have expanded our UK terminal estate ahead of our targets and started to roll out new terminals in Romania. We have rationalised three data centres to one for our two internet service payment providers, now trading as PayPoint.net, and the balance of our integration work is approaching completion. The acquisition of Pay Store in Romania is the first step of our international strategy and the launch plans for our Romanian bill payment service are well advanced. There remain further opportunities for future growth through market share gains, new initiatives and new products."  

The financial statements have been drawn up to the 30 March 2008, which covers 53 weeks (2007: 52 weeks).  

[1] Net revenue is revenue less commissions paid to retail agents, the cost of mobile top-ups where PayPoint is the principal and external processing costs.
[2] Net revenue and operating margin are measures which the directors believe assist with a better understanding of the underlying performance of the group. The reconciliation of net revenue to revenue can be found in note 2.
[3] Source: Mori Ipsos
[4] Operating margin is operating profit expressed as a percentage of net revenue. Like for like excludes the impact of acquisitions in the last two years and the additional week of trading in the period under review.

Click here to download the full press release.