Irish payment processing business Payzone, which was acquired by private equity fund Carlyle Cardinal for €43.3 million last year, saw pretax profits rise by more than 60 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last September.
The firm reported profits of €5.1 million as against €3.1 million a year earlier on turnover that declined 5 per cent to €162.8 million, from to €170.9 million.
During the year the company said it incurred €602,000 in development costs. Acquisition related costs totalled €495,000.
Payzone distributes payments services and products on behalf of a broad range of clients that includes Government agencies, local authorities, utility companies and mobile network operators.
The company is Ireland’s largest provider of multi-channel consumer payments and owns one of the biggest physical retail payments networks in the country with 11,500 points of sale across more than 7,000 agents.
Payzone processes transactions across a variety of electronic transactions services, including financial services, mobile phone top ups, debit/credit card transactions; M50 motorway toll payments; Leap travel cards, local property tax payments, parking fees, pre-paid utility and parcel collection services.
The company employs more than 70 people at its head office in Sandyford, Dublin 18. Staff costs, including wages and salaries, totalled €4.26 million, up from €4 million a year earlier. Directors’ emoluments totalled €605,000, up from €231,000 in the preceding year.
"2015 was a good year for Payzone as we continued to rebalance our portfolio of products and services to reflect marketplace changes. Through ongoing technology developments we have successfully diversified into a wider range of customised payment solutions, financial services and channels which have improved our overall business performance," said chief executive Jim Deignan.
“We now process over 65 million transactions annually of which online transactions account for over 10 per cent. Contactless card acceptance transactions are another strong driver of growth,” he added.
