FairFX strikes upbeat note ahead of AGM
FairFX has enjoyed a strong year to date in 2019, both in terms of turnover and improved margins, says John Pearson, Chairman.
E-banking and international payments provider Fairfx Group PLC (LON:FFX) has seen a strong start to 2019, according to a statement made today by John Pearson, Chairman. The statement was made public ahead of FairFX’s Annual General Meeting, which is to be held at 12:30pm today.
Mr Pearson noted that 2018 was a year of significant growth for FairFX with further progress made towards the Group’s strategic goals. Turnover and revenue growth continued to be strong, both organically and via acquisition, whilst FairFX also made further investment in technology to increase the functionality and capacity in its platform for continued expansion.
Mr Pearson added that FairFX has enjoyed a strong year to date in 2019, both in terms of turnover and improved margins, which is a consequence of further rationalisation of the supply chain. He also highlighted the investments the Group made in 2018 which are now flowing through in terms of new products being released in 2019. One such example is the granting of the Bank of England settlement accounts and direct access to the Faster Payments scheme.
“The Board expects the Group’s trading performance for the full year to be in line with market expectations”, FairFX’s Chairman says.
During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Group registered turnover of £2.36 billion, up 111% on the prior year (2017: £1.12 billion) and in line with management expectations. Turnover grew 22% excluding the effect of the acquisitions of CardOne Banking in August 2017 and City Forex in February 2018.
Growth was supported by FairFX’s continued focus on its core products of International Payments (up 134%) and Prepaid Cards (up 8%). In keeping with the Group’s stated strategic objective of growing the Corporate segment of the business, usage of the Company’s corporate card platform rose by 30% compared to 2017. Furthermore, during FY18, 315,000 new UK domiciled retail customers were acquired bringing the total to 1,040,000 customers.
The Group has continued to invest in the CardOne business and platform to pursue identified opportunities which are expected to be realised during the current financial year.
The other key area of strategic focus for the Company has been to invest in the platform and rationalise the supply chain. Further advances were made during the year, including self-issuance of CardOne corporate cards under FairFX’s Mastercard membership. One area of focus was the removal of a layer of the supply chain and improve margins across the corporate card division. Progress was made in this respect but it was slower than the Board would have liked. The Board expects this to be finalised and to contribute improved margins during the current financial period.
