20th Sep 2019 12:25
(Alliance News) - Billing Services Group Ltd on Friday said it swung to a small pretax profit for the first half of 2019 on improved gross margins and lower operating expenses.
Shares in the company, which provides payment processing for telecom and digital goods merchants, were down 10% at 1.93 pence each in London in afternoon trade.
For the six months to June 30, Billing Services recorded pretax profit of USD22,000, compared with a pretax loss of USD428,000 in the year-ago period, on revenue of USD7.0 million and USD8.4 million, respectively. The USD1.4 million revenue fall was attributed to lower transaction volumes across all clearing, settlement and customer service activities.
First half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased 64% to GBP548,000 from GBP335,000 a year ago. Gross margins improved to 64.4% from 58.3%.
"The first-half results demonstrate the company's disciplined execution of its business plan. Improved gross margins and lower operating expenses enabled the company to generate a higher level of Ebitda despite lower revenues," Non-Executive Co-Chairmen Denham Eke and Jason Wolff said.
Billing Services said it continues to focus on actions that will improve earnings and cash flow. It remains focused on the future composition of the group, including creating liquidity events for shareholders - meaning the chance to buy and sell shares - and optimising capital allocation.
The company added that it will not provide a future guidance in light of the potentially significant changes in the business.