A solid full-year performance by PayPoint (PAY) fed through into a 9 per cent rise in operating profits to £48.2m, while gross margins increased by 2.4 percentage points. The rise was underpinned by strong growth in the online payment specialist's retail networks business, and was achieved despite a significant rise in IT, development and marketing expenses.
Midway through 2014, PayPoint merged its online and mobile channels to take advantage of the substantial opportunities management saw in the market. However, fast forward a year and the group is proposing to sell the unified businesses to sharpen its focus on multichannel payments and services. Performance certainly wasn't helped by the loss of an online parking payment contract for Westminster council. Management said it expects the business to remain lossmaking during the current financial year, as continued expenditure in product development, sales and marketing are needed.