More mobile payments lift Monitise sales
MOBILE payments service Monitise yesterday reported half-year revenue up 63 per cent on the same period a year earlier as the number of transactions it processed quadrupled.
The fast-growing company, which provides mobile payments for Visa and many UK high street banks, said its revenue was £27.8m for the six months to 31 December. It processed 2bn transactions in that time and reached a total of 20m registered customers, compared with 6m at the same time a year earlier.
Yesterday Monitise announced plans to expand still further with the launch of a mobile payments service for BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), which will be introduced via a pilot scheme in Indonesia.
It has also formed a partnership with e-commerce provider Venda, aimed at speeding up the introduction of Monitise’s Instant Mobile Checkout service to stores such as Fat Face, TK Maxx and Wickes.
Despite the increased customer base , Monitise’s recent investments – including the acquisition of US company Clairmail – meant the company’s loss grew from £4.2m to £14.7m.
Monitise reported a total cash balance of £106.4m at the end of the period, up from £41.4m the year before, and said it was on track for full-year revenue of at least £70m.
Alastair Lukies, Monitise chief executive officer, said: “Monitise’s overall performance during the period reflected the ongoing investment in scaling the business to meet the increasing global demand for Mobile Money and strategic moves taken to consolidate the group’s leadership position globally.”
Shares lifted 1.5 per cent to 34.50p on the news.