12 month price target 167p based on the new business likeley to be generated by rolling out their smart card offering also good management

Pre-paid cards tipped for growth in Europe

European consumers are set to spend EUR75 billion by 2010 using reloadable pre-paid cards, which are targeted at customers that do not have a bank account.

According to a report by European payment consultancy PSE Consulting, stored value cards are expected to account for 2.3 billion card transactions per annum by 2010 - compared with 150 million transactions now - representing five per cent of total card transaction volumes and three per cent of total card spending.


PSE says annual growth rates of the prepaid card market will exceed 110% for the next five years, and pre-paid gift products - such as card-based gift vouchers - will fuel a significant proportion (almost 30%) of total spend.


The use of the cards as an alternative to travellers cheques and foreign cash will also drive growth and account for 15% of spending. Internet payment cards (which provide a secure alternative to credit cards) are expected to generate 13% of spending, while company rewards and incentives programmes are set to account for 12% of spending.


But despite the anticipated rate of growth, Peter Jones, managing director of PSE, says banks must act quickly if they are to secure their share of the pre-paid market and compete with non-banks.


"We have forecast that 58% of spend will occur on Visa or MasterCard branded cards but, to date, banks and financial institutions have been adopting a 'wait and see' strategy," he says.


Jones says this is illustrated by Poste Italiane in Italy which currently has 1.9 million pre-paid cards in circulation.


The research found three separate segments are set to become the focus for pre-paid market development - stored value gift cards, direct financial institution offers including cards used for Internet payments, online gaming, travel cards or remittance products and business solutions such as cards for delivering government benefits and payroll.


As part of the research PSE carried out a mystery shopper survey using several different pre-paid travel products and those targeted at the un-banked which found that the registration of some products was very complex and may deter customers.


Chris Jones, senior consultant at PSE, says: "The sector must focus on developing and delivering simpler, cheaper products and services if the forecast levels of growth are to be achieved. The issues associated with directly charging consumers for pre-paid services mean corporate pre-paid solutions are likely to offer more attractive revenue models in the short term."

Significant shareholdings..

http://www.conistertrust.com/data/Reports/Significant%20Shareholder.pdf

A few sellers at the end of the day gives buyers an opportunity to get them a little cheaper, within the spread if they haggle.

I hope a few investors have a look at this , this weekend,

The opportunity is fantastic.

One wonders what they are going to do with all that cash?.

I bet Mr Mellon already as a PLAN.

2007 will mark an exciting year for Conister Trust both for its customers as well as its shareholders. Following a year of preparations, the Company has now launched a new business division - Transbank. This division will provide solutions for the rapidly growing market of network-branded open-loop prepaid cards - for which the European market is projected to grow by 110% p.a. between 2005 - 2010. Through this separate business division, Conister Trust will use its offshore banking license to serve as an independent card issuer. This is a market neglected by large banks and in the US market, it is the small and independent banks who have reaped the largest part of the recent growth of such prepaid cards.

Are all of these transbanks on the internet part of this new division ?

M

Madelin, can you please further this?.

A little unsure what you are asking, appologies.

Remember 10 million cash, 1/3rd its market capitalisation............ NICE.

I put Transbank into google and found a lot of ukranian , spanish and other websites. I did not understand what it was about.

Who are Conister's competitors in this new market? Can anyone post a short SWOT analysis of this company?

Sounds like an interesting prospect. Trying to get a bit more info and decide whether it is worth doing full research and potentially investing.

VM, I don't think the major retail bank will be interested in this small market, typically transitary people, that is what they found happened in the USA. Plus, due to the type of customer the larger banks are unlikely to be able to sell them the profitable add-ons, mortgages, insurance, high interest loans or as it is a top-up cards, juicy penalty payments.

Well worth printing this off and digesting it...


Read the full PSE Consulting Document here...

http://www.psel.co.uk/pdf/articles/cardproducts/pse_prepaid_who_will_win_v2_sep_2006.pdf

All buys this morning even if we are off a 1/2p.

More buyers coming in at lunchtime.

Just one seller all buys.

Gone from negative to neutral.

Tipped on ample...

http://personalfinance.iii.co.uk/articles/articledisplay.jsp?section=Share%20Tips&article_id=5994305

their results due soon emailed them yesterday to ask when exactly and also asked them to find out how we access their pre-paid cards offer?

GG, lets not forget we are going to get a loss for the year, so knowone should be dissapointed.

Its the new business going forward which is the big plus here.

Should get announcement about the sign up with Visa any time now.

Nudged up on nice buying this afternoon.