Decline in top ups hit PayPoint's revenues

Paypoint’s third quarter revenues have dipped due to a decline in top ups and the unseasonably warm weather.

The FTSE 250 company issued its third quarter results to 31 December on Thursday.

While revenue excluding the cost of mobile top ups, SIM cards and other costs which are recharged to clients rose 1.8% to £35m, total revenues dropped 3% to £58.1m

Paypoint said it saw 22.7% growth in retail services and 9.6% growth in Mobile and Online, however they were offset by a 13.7% decline in top ups and a 2.4% drop in bill and general revenues, with the latter mainly due to lower energy consumption.

The company also said the adverse VAT ruling from HMRC previously reported as well as the unseasonably warm weather has slowed the improvement in its results.

However chief executive Dominic Taylor said the company has made progress.

“Retail services have grown strongly, our new terminal is in pilot in the UK and we have made good progress in developing our core epos software,” he said.

“However, our progress has been partially offset by the unseasonably warm weather and its impact on energy consumption, an extension of the additional costs in Collect+ to facilitate the shareholder discussion and a delay in the sale of our Mobile Payments business.”

Shares in PayPoint dropped 27p (3.25%) to 803p at 0939 GMT.