It has been a strong maiden year on the stock exchange for Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi's payments processing company SafeCharge International (SCH). The company paid out a maiden half-year dividend ahead of schedule in September, only five months after listing on Aim, and followed up with a final dividend worth 5.28ȼ (3.58p). Altogether, shareholders will get 8.16ȼ a share for the 2014 financial year.
SafeCharge's customer numbers are growing rapidly, which helps to explain the staggering 78 per cent improvement in revenue last year. This in turn more than doubled adjusted cash profit - excluding acquisition and IPO costs - to $24.7m. The business is also highly cash-generative, with cash flows from operations of $20.8m last year - close to double the 2013 figure. This and the $122m in net proceeds from the IPO have helped keep the company debt-free, giving management the flexibility they need to develop their growth strategy.
It has already put some of that cash to use, buying Irish group 3V Transaction Services and Israeli payment processor CreditGuard in January 2015. The former acquisition is intended to provide the foundation for SafeCharge's new card services division, which will be operational by the second half of this year.
Broker Numis Securities expects pre-tax profit of $29.6m this year, giving EPS of 17.3ȼ, up from $22m and 14.5ȼ in 2014.
| SAFECHARGE (SCH) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 259p | MARKET VALUE: | £387m | |
| TOUCH: | 257-260p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 278p | LOW: 162p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.1% | PE RATIO: | 37 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 101ȼ | NET CASH: | $146m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011* | 30.3 | 5.9 | 3.6 | na |
| 2012* | 32.9 | 4.1 | 2.4 | na |
| 2013 | 43.2 | 0.4 | -1.3 | nil |
| 2014 | 76.9 | 16.3 | 10.4 | 8.16 |
| % change | +78 | +3975 | - | - |
Ex-div: 7 May Payment: 26 May *Pre-IPO figures £1 = $1.48 | ||||
