Finablr (FIN) – a cross-border payments and foreign-exchange platform, whose brands include airport habitué Travelex – floated in May 2019. Thus, its first set of results as a public company capture only a snapshot of its post-IPO existence.
Still, trading for the half year to June offered some cause for encouragement – landing at the upper end of management’s guidance. Adjusted group income – effectively revenue – rose by 9.1 per cent to $742m (£614m). Adjusted cash profits increased by over a quarter to $103m, courtesy of an almost two percentage point expansion in the corresponding margin to 13.9 per cent.
Consumer foreign-exchange solutions – the largest of the group’s three segments by revenue – enjoyed a 3 per cent increase in adjusted sales to $384m, and saw cash profits rise by more than a third. Meanwhile, the business-to-business (‘B2B’) and payment technology solutions division – the smallest by revenue – reported the fastest rate of growth, up by over a fifth. B2B also constituted the largest single contributor to cash profits, after strong volumes and improved margins.
That said, statutory pre-tax losses widened significantly – dampened not only by flotation costs, but also by new accounting rules pertaining to leases. The latter added $76m to the group’s depreciation and amortisation charges, taking these to $122m – up 193 per cent.
Goldman Sachs expects adjusted EPS of 4ȼ for 2019, up from losses per share of 2ȼ in 2018.
| FINABLR (FIN) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 174p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.2bn | |
| TOUCH: | 174-179p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 181p | LOW: 134p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 109ȼ* | NET DEBT: | 41% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
| 2018 | 691 | -2.5 | -4.0 | nil |
| 2019 | 734 | -23.4 | -5.0 | nil |
| % change | +6 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
*Includes intangible assets of $746m, or 107ȼ s share £1=$1.21 | ||||
