PCI-PAL raises expectations amid strong fourth quarter

Business payment technology company PCI-PAL updated the market on its trading on Tuesday, reporting that the positive trading momentum since the end of the third quarter had continued.

The AIM-traded firm said that as a result, revenues for the full year were now expected to be at least 5% ahead of current market expectations, which would result in a year-on-year increase of about 60%.

On the back of that, it said the company’s adjusted loss before tax for the period was expected to be about 5% narrower than market expectations.

The group said its new sales bookings continued to be in line with management expectations for the year, even after the adverse movement of the dollar exchange rate, thus maintaining its “strong momentum” going into the 2022 financial year.

PCI-PAL said it had continued to generate cash from its trading activities ahead of management expectations, and as a result, and following the recent placing, its board had decided to accelerate the repayment schedule of its outstanding debt of £1.7m before the end of the current financial year.

It said there was no early settlement penalty for early repayment, adding that it would result in an interest saving of around £0.1m in the 2022 financial year.

Under the original terms of the loan, the debt would have been repaid in full by September 2022, and thus the early repayment would have “no impact” on the firm’s planned international expansion, which it outlined in April.

The group said its “channel-first” sales approach was progressing, with partners expected to generate about 75% of new sales in the current year.

Fourth quarter highlights to date included an expansion of its existing partner relationship with Genesys, one of the largest technology suppliers to contact centres, with PCI-PAL products now available “natively” within ‘Genesys Cloud’ products as a premium partner on the ‘Genesys AppFoundry’.

The group said it had also continued to grow its partner ecosystem in the business process outsourcers (BPO) segment, by signing one of the world’s largest BPOs, which included that partner's first sale of PCI-PAL’s ‘Agent Assist’ solution to a United States energy company.

That, the board said, added to the growing number of BPO providers that had selected PCI-PAL for their secure payment needs.

“We're delighted to be able to confirm continued strong trading in the fourth quarter, with significant progress against all key strategic initiatives,” said chief executive officer James Barham.

“We are at a very exciting point in our growth story.

“The recent news of our targeted partner ecosystem expansion, further supports our vision to be the leading provider of secure payment services for business communications worldwide.”

PCI-PAL said it would issue a year-end trading update with further details and key metrics in the third week of July.

At 0858 BST, shares in PCI-PAL were up 5.37% at 93.25p.