FairFX strikes upbeat note ahead of today’s AGM
The company says it is already reaping the benefits of the acquisition of City Forex.
International payments and banking services provider Fairfx Group PLC (LON:FFX) has struck an upbeat note about its performance in 2018. In a filing with the London Stock Exchange, containing a statement to be made by FairFX’s Chairman John Pearson at the Group’s Annual General Meeting to be held later today, the company says that its performance in 2018 to date has been encouraging with continued strong growth.
Furthermore, the Group says it is already reaping the benefits of the acquisition of City Forex in February 2018 including the successful migration of the FairFX international payments business onto the City Forex proprietary platform, thus improving efficiencies.
The Board forecasts that FairFX’s trading performance for the full year will be in line with market expectations.
The statement notes that 2017 was a transformational year for FairFX as full year profitability was achieved for the first time since its admission to AIM and the Group delivered an impressive rate of growth and expansion.
FairFX’s acquisitions drive boosted the corporate revenues in the first quarter of 2018. Turnover for the first three months of 2018, including CardOne Banking and City Forex, staged a 125.9% jump compared to the same period in 2017 and amounted to £439.5 million (2017: £194.6 million). This growth has been delivered on the back of strong performance by International Payments which is up 98.5% at £212.9 million (2017: £107.2 million) and Prepaid Currency Card turnover which increased 11.2% to £82.6 million (2017: £74.3 million). On a like-for-like basis, turnover from core Forex services rose 31.6% year on year to £256.1 million, the company said.
Revenues, including CardOne Banking and City Forex, saw an 85.3% increase to £4.8 million (2017: £2.6 million). On a like-for-like basis, revenue from core foreign exchange services increased 18.7% to £3.1 million (2017: £2.6 million). Total customer numbers grew rapidly with 26,909 new customers added in the first quarter, bringing the total to 755,894.
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of FairFX, said:
“The project to move the FairFX international payments book onto the City Forex platform has been a tremendous team effort. It was a major achievement to complete the migration in only ten weeks from closing the deal, which demonstrates the Group’s ability to successfully integrate new businesses.”
