PayPoint, the UK’s leading convenience retail bill payment network has signed a preferred supplier agreement with Bargain Booze, the off licence and convenience franchise chain.

This new agreement will enable the 600 Bargain Booze franchise stores across the UK to offer PayPoint in their stores and provide their customers with a full range of bill payment schemes and electronic top-ups.

Graham Jones, Bargain Booze’s Epos Operations Manager commented: “Bargain Booze is pleased to announce this agreement. We want to be able to add a valuable traffic driving service to our franchise stores and as PayPoint offers the widest range of schemes, they were a natural choice for us.”

Mike Igoe, PayPoint Retail Director added: "This agreement further demonstrates the strength of PayPoint to retail groups. We look forward to working closely with Bargain Booze and their franchisees on PayPoint’s traditional business streams and developing exciting new opportunities for PayPoint outlets such as the new mobile coupon service SHOP SCAN SAVE, which launches soon."

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Enquiries:
PayPoint Press Office
Helen Crossley and Jenine Creaney
020 7100 9999
helen.crossley@mischiefpr.com / jenine.creaney@mischiefpr.com

Bargain Booze:
Matthew Hughes (Joint Managing Director)
01270 614710
matthewhughes@bargainbooze.co.uk

Notes to Editors
PayPoint is the UK’s and Ireland’s leading cash and internet payments company, handling over £5 billion in 414 million payments annually for over 5,000 clients and merchants. The company operates with several significant payment streams:

• The PayPoint branded retail network numbers over 17,500 terminal outlets  located in local shops (including Co-ops, Spar, Costcutter, NISA-Today’s, Londis and thousands of independents) in all parts of the UK and Ireland. Terminals handle cash bill payments, mobile phone top-ups, transport tickets, London Congestion Charges, BBC TV licences and a wide variety of other payment types for all of the leading utilities, telecoms suppliers and many consumer service companies. This network is used by consumers, free of charge, over 7 million times a week. The network has 97.3% population cover on a 1 mile urban or 5 miles rural measure;
• Additional multiple retailer connections into the electronic till systems (EPoS) of over 3,850 outlets including BP, Somerfield and Superdrug for mobile top ups and selected payments from the PayPoint range;
• The PayPoint ATM network has over 1850 ‘LINK’-branded machines across the UK, also typically in convenience stores. These machines levy a small convenience fee for each withdrawal; and
• PayPoint Internet Payment Services, trading as Metacharge and SECPay, provides secure credit and debit card payments for over 4,000 web merchants linking into all the major UK acquiring banks.

PayPoint floated on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004 and was the Financial Times ‘New Company of the Year’.  The company has a market capitalisation of over £450 million. In year ended March 2007, revenue was £157 million with profit before tax of £27 million. PayPoint has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and is widely recognised for its leadership in prepayment systems, smart technology and consumer service.