SUPERB RESULTS

REG - Optimal Payments PLC - Interim Results19 Sep 2012 - 07:01

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on the link below: http://pdf.reuters.com/Regnews/regnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&u=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20120919:nRSS5828Ma RNS Number : 5828M Optimal Payments PLC 19 September 2012 Optimal Payments Plc Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2012 Strong first half growth, on track to exceed full year market expectations Optimal Payments Plc (LSE: OPAY) ("Optimal Payments", the "Group" or the "Company"), a leading online payments provider, today announces its results for the six months ended 30 June 2012. Highlights · EBITDA(1) up 76% to $11.2m (H1 2011: $6.4m). · Revenues up 37% to $78.9m (H1 2011: $57.4m). Fixed costs marginally down following headcount reduction in Q1. · Profit before tax $1.7m (H1 2011: loss of $4.1m). · Strong organic growth from NETBANX Straight Through Processing division ("STP"), up 68% to $61.9m (H1 2011: $36.9m) with continued strength and growth in Asia. · NETELLER Stored Value ("SV") revenues down to $16.2m (2011:$18.0m(2)) principally as a result of the fallout from Black Friday(3) in H1 2011. § Initiatives undertaken in H1 have produced improved results in second half to date. Major investment in NETELLER SV platform now complete and cost base aligned. § US online gaming opportunity taking shape. · Strong demand from existing customers and from new customers won during the first half including Ford Credit, Hockey Canada and Rona. Commercial agreement signed with Lotus F1 Team. · Strong H1 revenue exit run rate positions the Company for further growth in second half and on track to exceed the market consensus full year expectations. Financial summary (unaudited) Six months ended 30 June 2012 2011(5) US$ million US$ million Revenue Straight Through Processing (NETBANX bureau & gateway services) 61.9 36.9 Stored Value (NETELLER eWallet & Net+ cards) 16.2 18.0 Stored Value - discontinued revenues (4) - 2.1 Investment income 0.7 0.4 Total Revenue 78.9 57.4 EBITDA (1) 11.2 6.4 Profit/(loss) before tax 1.7 (4.1) Tax (charge)/recovery (6) (2012 charge relates to 2004/5 period) (2.5) 0.5 Net loss for the period (0.8) (3.6) (1) EBITDA is defined as results of operating activities before depreciation and amortisation and exceptional non-recurring items which are defined as items of income and expense of such size, nature or incidence, that in the view of management their disclosure is relevant to explain the performance of the Group. (2) Excluding discontinued revenues - see note 4. (3) "Black Friday" refers to the regulatory action taken in April 2011 against certain major poker operators which resulted in many players ceasing to play poker worldwide. (4) Discontinued revenues were derived from e-money expiry which is now subject to different rules under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. (5) 2011 comparables include only 5 months of revenues and costs from the OP Inc business acquired on 1 February 2011. (6) Tax charge in the period relates to expected reassessment of 2004/5 Canadian taxes following a review by the Canadian Revenue Agency which commenced in 2005. The Board has made a full provision for the amount it believes it is likely to be required to pay in respect of withholding taxes and interest. See note 17 in the Financial Statements for more detail. Commenting on today's results announcement, Joel Leonoff, President & CEO, said: The combination of NETELLER and OP Inc. has produced a multi-faceted payment product offering and positioned the emerged business Optimal Payments Plc to benefit from a rapidly evolving online payment market. Our efforts have resulted in a fully integrated and right-sized business with an efficient cost base. Our operationally geared business model, continued focus on product development and R&D, along with our strong presence in the internet payment market have combined to produce significant organic revenue and EBITDA growth. Our H1 results and strong foundation position the Company well for further growth in H2. The online payment industry continues to consolidate and the Group should benefit from the expected significant growth in both the online and mobile commerce markets. We see substantial opportunities to provide innovative solutions to merchants and consumers in both the NETELLER eWallet and NETBANX

Looking at the chart on short tracker black bird it shows a decline ,however it also
shows short positions opened recently ...

Fund manager % short Date changed/created
Magnetar Financial (UK) LLP 0.00% 2015-05-06
Susquehanna International Holdings LLC 0.00% 2015-05-05
Magnetar Financial (UK) LLP 2.25% 2015-05-05
Ennismore Fund Management Limited 0.38% 2015-05-05
Magnetar Financial (UK) LLP 2.48% 2015-05-01
Susquehanna International Holdings LLC 0.95% 2015-04-29
Susquehanna International Holdings LLC 0.75% 2015-04-28
Magnetar Financial (UK) LLP 2.52% 2015-04-28
Jane Street Group, LLC 0.67% 2015-04-28
Susquehanna International Holdings LLC 0.61% 2015-04-27

Nevertheless, the total declared short positions at the moment is zero (0%).

I wonder what the sp will be by the end of the month, getting slowly nibbled at on a daily basis.

Yes, I wonder if £3 is the high for the moment. Still, the RI we bought at £1.66 are still in the money. Perhaps selling a few at £3 might be sensible next time it gets there?

If is a very big word, at the moment I think we might be in for a wait.

Trading Statement

RNS
RNS Number : 8533N
Optimal Payments PLC
21 May 2015

For immediate release

OPTIMAL PAYMENTS PLC

Trading in line with expectations
Strong performance in first four months of 2015LONDON, MONTREAL and NEW YORK (21 May, 2015) - Optimal Payments Plc (LSE AIM: OPAY, "Optimal Payments" or the "Group") announces a trading update for the year to date ahead of the Annual General Meeting taking place later today.

Revenue and EBITDA in US Dollars (the Group's reporting currency) for the year to date for Optimal Payments' existing operations are in line with expectations notwithstanding the recent weakness of the Euro. The consolidation of Meritus and GMA in the US, acquired in July 2014, has progressed well and these businesses are being managed as one integrated business unit together with the NETBANX Straight Through Processingbusiness. The strong trading we experienced in 2014 has continued in 2015 with both the NETELLER Stored Value and NETBANX businesses performing very well.

Acquisition of Skrill
The principal focus of corporate activity in this financial year has been on the acquisition of Skrill for a total consideration of €1.1 billion and its associated funding.

In the period since the announcement of the transaction, the equity element of this funding has been accomplished through a fully underwritten rights issue of five new ordinary shares at 166p for every three shares held to raise a total of £451 million. Acceptances were received from qualifying shareholders for almost 97 per cent. of the total new ordinary shares being offered with the balance being placed with institutional investors at 290p. In addition, a funding term loan of €500 million, also fully underwritten by BMO, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, has been successfully raised together with the arrangement of a €78 million revolving credit facility.

Completion of the acquisition is now subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, which primarily comprises regulatory approval by the UK's FCA, which is expected to be received in Q3. On completion, the vendors of Skrill will receive the agreed cash consideration of €720 million and approximately 37.5 million new ordinary shares in Optimal Payments, representing 7.9 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of the Group. These shares are subject to lock-in arrangements for a period of 180 days from the date of issue.

Management has continued to plan the integration of Skrill into the Group with a dedicated internal team addressing all aspects of combining the two groups and focusing in particular on the combination of Skrill's Stored Value businesses with NETELLER. As originally announced, the Group expects to generate some $40 million of synergy benefits by the end of the first full year of ownership to 31 December 2016. These benefits are in addition to the customer and geographic diversification and the increased scale and market presence of the enlarged Group.

At the time of the announcement of the transaction, it was stated that Skrill was due to complete a small acquisition of its own - Ukash, a pre-paid e-money payment provider. This acquisition completed on 31 March 2015 and will be merged into Skrill's paysafecard business.

Main market listing
As a consequence of the substantially increased size of the enlarged Group, it was announced that Optimal Payments would seek admission to listing of its ordinary shares on the premium segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities. The process to move from AIM to the main market is underway and, following such a move, it is expected that the Company's ordinary shares would be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 250 Index of the London Stock Exchange.

Half Year results and Capital Markets Day
Half Year results for the existing Optimal Payments businesses to 30 June 2015 are expected to be announced on 26 August 2015.

The Group intends to host a Capital Markets Day during Q4 for investors, analysts and lenders. At the event, management will set out its strategy for the combined businesses of Optimal Payments and Skrill and report on integration progress. It is expected that this event will take place in November 2015 and will be accompanied by a trading update.

Commenting on today's trading update, Joel Leonoff, President & CEO, said:
"We were delighted with the response from all of our shareholders to the acquisition of Skrill which is a real game changer for us. The enlarged Optimal Payments, on completion, will become a leading player in the markets we serve and create additional opportunities for further profitable growth. It will also deliver benefits to our shareholders in the shape of accretive earnings from next year, enhanced liquidity from the intended move to the main market and, in due course, inclusion in the FTSE 250."

Dennis Jones, Chairman of Optimal Payments, said:
"On behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank our shareholders for their support and our management team and staff for their hard work in turning the acquisition of Skrill from an aspiration into a reality."

About Optimal Payments Plc
Optimal Payments is a global provider of online payment solutions, trusted by businesses and consumers in over 200 countries and territories to move and manage billions of dollars each year. Merchants use the NETBANX® platform and services to simplify how they accept credit and debit card, direct-from-bank, and alternative and local payments; and the NETELLER® service to increase revenues and capture new customers. Consumers use the multilingual and multicurrency NETELLER and Net+® Card stored-value offering to make secure and convenient payments. In addition, Optimal Payments Card Services, another division of Optimal Payments, provides innovative prepaid products and services to merchants. Optimal Payments Plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM, with a ticker symbol of OPAY. Subsidiary company Optimal Payments Ltd is authorized and regulated as an e-money issuer by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 900015).

For more information on Optimal Payments visit www.optimalpayments.com or subscribe at http://www.optimalpayments.com/media/email-alerts.
--
For further information contact:

Optimal Payments Plc
Jessica Stalley, Head of Investor Relations
+ 44 207 182 1707
investorrelations@optimalpayments.com

Canaccord Genuity Limited(Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Simon Bridges / Cameron Duncan
+44 (0) 20 7523 8000

Media Contacts - United Kingdom:
Tavistock Communications
Simon Hudson/Andrew Dunn/Simon Fluendy
+44 20 7920 3150
optimal@tavistock.co.uk

Media Contacts - Canada:
Zenergy Communications
Linda Farha/Beverly Brooks
+1 416-591-5461
opay@zenergycom.com

Media Contacts - United States:
Feintuch Communications
Richard Anderson/Emily Simmons
+1 718-986-1596 / +1 212-808-4904
optimal@feintuchpr.com

-ends-


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

I like the following comment.

Commenting on today's trading update, Joel Leonoff, President & CEO, said:
"We were delighted with the response from all of our shareholders to the acquisition of Skrill which is a real game changer for us. The enlarged Optimal Payments, on completion, will become a leading player in the markets we serve and create additional opportunities for further profitable growth. It will also deliver benefits to our shareholders in the shape of accretive earnings from next year, enhanced liquidity from the intended move to the main market and, in due course, inclusion in the FTSE 250."

The inclusion in the FTSE 250 should be a major boost as the institutions will hopefully take a position.

Does anyone else on this board share my view?

Lets hope you are right. I am reasonably confident, though OPAY has had a few problems along the way.

StockMarketWire.com
Optimal Payments has acquired Montreal-based mobile platform developer FANS Entertainment Inc. for C$16m, payable to the vendors by issuing shares in a subsidiary of Optimal Payments.

The shares are exchangeable on a one-for-one basis into shares of Optimal Payments over the next three years, a portion of which are subject to the satisfaction of certain financial performance criteria.

The total number of Consideration Shares issued to the vendors was 3,163,633

The following should be good news for Neteller.

www.gamblinginsider.com/news/1254/california-online-poker-bill-passes-through-committee

Gamblinginsider.

California online poker bill passes through committee
Friday 29th May 2015
By David Cook
A bill to legalise online poker in California has been approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 431, which was introduced by Assemblyman Adam Gray in February, received 14 yes votes and zero no votes, while three committee members did not submit a vote.

According to GamblingCompliance, the bill will now advance to the Assembly floor, where it will be held until the conclusion of two further hearings on the matter have concluded, which begin on 24 June and 8 July.

The bill was unanimously approved by members of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, which Gray chairs, in April.

A coalition, made up of provider Amaya Gaming, Indian tribes the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, and card rooms the Bicycle Hotel and Casino, the Commerce Casino and Hawaiian Gardens Casino, sent out a statement in response to the vote, that was published by Online Poker Report.

The statement read: “We’re pleased that AB 431 passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee today. We are optimistic this new development represents another step forward in the growing effort to authorise and regulate online poker in 2015.

“Clearly there is much left to do to draft bill language that meets the needs of Californians for a safe and competitive online market, but success is within our grasp if all stakeholders seriously engage in the process.”

And Pennsylvania is edging closer, the next committee meeting is next Tuesday.

hxxp://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/18848-pennsylvania-lawmakers-it-makes-no-sense-to-not-regulate-online-poker-sites

Also a bit of fun. The Daily Mail (Yes I know very sad!) on 27 May

From today's Mail....

Http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3097839/MARKET-REPORT-Joe-Joan-Public-enjoyed-strong-income-stream-year-FTSE-100-housebuilders-15-dividend-yielders.html

"In the note Rocket On The Launchpad Numis says Optimal Payments’ shares – 4.5p off at 282.75p – are mis-priced.

Its target price is 450p. Analyst Ivor Jones says the company has not achieved lift off yet. But completion of the online payment group’s transformational acquisition of Skrill, its promotion to a full listing and the FTSE 250, should light the blue touch paper.

Once it gets up to speed it will pull the price along in its wake. Get on board, the broker says."

It would be very nice to reach 450p but lets be realistic. This share is in danger of being range bound for a while. Recent purchases long term should come through but it may be a rocky road.

I shall be watching to see where we go when 300p is near.

At present I hold 5000 shares and average 260p. I made serious money out of these last year so hopefully it will perform well.

Update on acquisition of Skrill
Good progress being made

LONDON, MONTREAL and NEW YORK (1 June, 2015) - Optimal Payments Plc announced on 23 March 2015 that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Sentinel Topco Limited and its subsidiaries from Sentinel Group Holdings S.A., ultimately owned by funds managed and advised by subsidiaries of CVC Capital Partners SICAV-FIS S.A., Investcorp Technology Partners, and other shareholders, for an enterprise value of approximately €1.1 billion (the "Acquisition").
As announced, the Acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies and is subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions including, amongst other things, Optimal Payments shareholder approval, the receipt of change of controller approvals from the FCA, the completion of the transfer of Skrill USA Inc. to Sentinel Group Holdings S.A. having obtained any necessary approvals from the relevant US regulatory authorities that have granted Skrill USA Inc. US money transmission licences, and any necessary approval for the issue of Optimal Payments shares to Sentinel Group Holdings S.A. in connection with the Acquisition (the "Skrill Consideration Shares") from the relevant Delaware regulatory authority that has granted a US money transmission licence to a subsidiary of the Company.
Optimal Payments is pleased to announce that a number of these conditions have now been or will shortly be satisfied.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5047118

Nibble, nibble, nibble - time it went in the blue!!!

Patience 3m! A very solid base for the sp as it is trading within a close range. Summer in the UK is generally a dull time for stocks, so may take until the autumn to start showing life. Your 166p Rights Issue shares are still nicely in the money, so not all bad!

StockMarketWire.com
Standard & Poor's and Moody's have assigned Optimal Payments a 'BB+' and '(P)Ba2' rating respectively with a stable outlook.

Standard & Poor's has assigned a 'BB' long-term credit rating to Optimal Payments and a 'BB+' issue rating to the company's senior secured term loan B, which forms part of the proposed new $500m senior secured facility and the $85m senior secured revolving credit facility, both to be issued by Optimal Payments on completion of the acquisition of Skrill. Separately, Moody's Investors Service has assigned a provisional '(P)Ba2' corporate family rating (CFR) to Optimal Payments and a '(P)Ba2' rating to the company's new debt facilities. Both ratings agencies separately assigned a 'stable' outlook to their respective ratings.

david lucas 30 may gambling b win in the frame, large holder sells to clear deck,
for a bid ?

Down it goes again just for a change - NOT!!!

firms buying usa companys usually pay to much they come unstuck, margins in
opay appear to be 16% not that good, must see better figs, or forcast before I buy
@ 230