Network Internatinal profit surges 26 per cent in 2019

Dubai: Network International, the region’s leading payments solutions provider reported a profit of $59 million on Monday for the full year 2019.

The full year profit from operations were up 26.3 per cent, reflecting growth across the business and no impairment charge recorded in the current year.

The company reported strong revenue growth of 12.4 per cent from $297.93 million in 2018 to $334.9 million last year. For the Middle East region, the company reported revenue growth of 9.2 per cent. In the Africa region revenue grew by 22.2 per cent in 2019.

Underlying EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization] increased by 13.3 per cent while EBITDA margin (excluding share of an associate) remained broadly stable at 48.6 per cent. This includes public company costs which negatively impacted margin by (130) bps.

“We have achieved strong financial performance during the year, delivering on the strategic priorities and guidance we set out at the time of IPO. We have reported 12.4 per cent revenue and 13.3 per cent underlying EBITDA growth, maintaining our industry leading margins,” said Simon Haslam, Chief Executive Officer of Network International.

The company reported an underlying free cashflow of $103.2 million and net cashflow from operating activities of $131.2 million. The board has proposed an ordinary dividend of 3.1 cents per share.

“The transition from cash to digital payments in our market and strength of our competitive position continue to drive strong underlying revenue growth. The Mastercard commercial agreement will further accelerate this and we are excited about the opportunity in Saudi Arabia, which has the potential over time to generate up to 10 per cent of our total revenues, with margins slightly below those of the Group,” said Haslam.