PCI-PAL makes 'excellent start' to year, files defence against patent infringement claim

Secure payments provider PCI-PAL said on Wednesday that it had made "an excellent start" to the 2022 trading year, with the group performing "very well" across its key metrics.

As a result, PCI-PAL said revenues were continuing to grow strongly in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and also in North America, as expected.

New contract sales were said to have been "particularly strong" throughout the first four months of the financial year, with a number of "exciting new deals" and existing customer extensions signed.

The average contract value signed in the year to date was currently £1.2m, taking the firm's key metric of total annual contract value to £10.8m as of 31 October.

Chief executive James Barham said: "I am extremely pleased with the company's strong sales performance in the first four months of the year in both the EMEA and North America.

"We are clearly benefitting from the longstanding commitment we have made to our technology approach, being the leader in cloud in our space, and our partner-first sales focus as we continue to build momentum through our expanding partner eco-system."

Separately, PCI-PAL had filed its UK defence against claims made by competitor Semafone that the latter had infringed upon the former's patent.

PCI-PAL also filed a counterclaim to the UK Court in response to the claims, stating, first of all, that its offering does not infringe the patents as claimed by Semafone and that, secondly, the patent itself was invalid as it "lacks novelty" and an "inventive step over the prior art".

As of 1340 GMT, PCI-PAL shares were down 1.59% at 67.90p.