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Optimal Payments Plc - Trading in line with expectationsStrong performance in first four months of 2015 LONDON, MONTREAL and NEW YORK, May 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Optimal Payments Plc (LSE AIM: OPAY, "Optimal Payments" or the "Group") announces a trading update for the year to date ahead of the Annual General Meeting taking place later today. Revenue and EBITDA in US Dollars (the Group's reporting currency) for the year to date for Optimal Payments' existing operations are in line with expectations notwithstanding the recent weakness of the Euro. The consolidation of Meritus and GMA in the U.S., acquired in July 2014, has progressed well and these businesses are being managed as one integrated business unit together with the NETBANX® Straight Through Processing business. The strong trading we experienced in 2014 has continued in 2015 with both the NETELLER® Stored Value and NETBANX businesses performing very well. Acquisition of Skrill In the period since the announcement of the transaction, the equity element of this funding has been accomplished through a fully underwritten rights issue of five new ordinary shares at 166p for every three shares held to raise a total of £451 million. Acceptances were received from qualifying shareholders for almost 97 per cent of the total new ordinary shares being offered with the balance being placed with institutional investors at 290p. In addition, a funding term loan of €500 million, also fully underwritten by BMO, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, has been successfully raised together with the arrangement of a €78 million revolving credit facility. Completion of the acquisition is now subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, which primarily comprises regulatory approval by the U.K.'s FCA, which is expected to be received in Q3. On completion, the vendors of Skrill will receive the agreed cash consideration of €720 million and approximately 37.5 million new ordinary shares in Optimal Payments, representing 7.9 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of the Group. These shares are subject o lock-in arrangements for a period of 180 days from the date of issue. Management has continued to plan the integration of Skrill into the Group with a dedicated internal team addressing all aspects of combining the two groups and focusing in particular on the combination of Skrill's Stored Value businesses with NETELLER. As originally announced, the Group expects to generate some $40 million of synergy benefits by the end of the first full year of ownership to December 31, 2016. These benefits are in addition to the customer and geographic diversification and the increased scale and market presence of the enlarged Group. At the time of the announcement of the transaction, it was stated that Skrill was due to complete a small acquisition of its own - Ukash, a pre-paid e-money payment provider. This acquisition completed on March 31, 2015 and will be merged into Skrill's paysafecard business. Main market listing Half Year results and Capital Markets Day The Group intends to host a Capital Markets Day during Q4 for investors, analysts and lenders. At the event, management will set out its strategy for the combined businesses of Optimal Payments and Skrill and report on integration progress. It is expected that this event will take place in November 2015 and will be accompanied by a trading update. Commenting on today's trading update, Joel Leonoff, President & CEO, said: Dennis Jones, Chairman of Optimal Payments, said: About Optimal Payments Plc For more information on Optimal Payments visit www.optimalpayments.com or subscribe at http://www.optimalpayments.com/media/email-alerts.
SOURCE Optimal Payments Plc |