Paypoint Q1 revenues decline amid weakness in bill payments

Payment services group Paypoint reported a decline in first-quarter revenue on Wednesday as strength in the UK retail services business was offset by weakness in bill payments.

In the three months to the end of June, group net revenue fell 6.6% to £26.8m. The drop included £1.1m net revenue in the previous year from the British Gas contract now ended.

UK retail services net revenue rose 10.3% to £10.8m, driven by the increase in card payments and service fees from the PayPoint One roll-out. However, bill payments revenue was down 28.2% to £8.2m. Excluding the British Gas impact, net revenue decreased 20.4% and transactions fell by 25.0% as consumers made larger payments less frequently during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Paypoint highlighted "strong" card payment volumes throughout the period and a "progressive" recovery in transaction volumes from April low points in UK bill payments, UK top-ups and eMoney, ATMs and parcels.

In Romania, net revenue grew 8.2% to £3.8m, primarily through margin improvement.

Chief executive Nick Wiles said: "We have delivered a solid first quarter performance during a very challenging period for the business and the economy as a whole.

"I am proud of the way the business has responded to recent challenges, and as we look ahead there is evidence of recovery in activity across a number of our services from the low point in April. We are now working hard to build on these positive signs and identify additional opportunities across our business."