PayPoint Plc (PAY.L), a payment and financial services provider through retail network, Thursday reported reduced profit before tax for the first half compared to last year, despite higher revenues.
Looking ahead for the full year 2026, the firm expects underlying EBITDA to be ahead of last year and in line with current expectations.
Nick Wiles, Chief Executive, stated, "While we continue to make progress towards delivering underlying EBITDA of 100 million pounds in the current financial year - which remains a key financial objective the business is confident of reaching - it is likely we will take longer to do so."
On the London Stock Exchange, the shares were trading 17.25 percent lower at 537.88 pence.
Regarding the longer-term growth targets to the end of full year 2028, the company said it expects to achieve net revenue growth in the range of 5-8 percent per annum. The firm also expects to establish an organizational framework to deliver greater automation of processes.
Further, the company's Board has declared an interim dividend of 19.8 pence per share, an increase of 2.1 percent from last year. The dividend is payable in equal instalments of 9.9 pence per share on December 19 and March 27 to shareholders on the register on November 28 and February 27, respectively.
The dividend represents an increase of 1.0 percent compared to the final dividend declared of 19.6 pence per share.
In the first half, PayPoint's profit before tax came down 13.9 percent to 19.91 million pounds from 23.11 million pounds last year.
The company's earnings per share were 20.6 pence, a decrease of 12.3 percent compared to 23.5 pence a year ago.
For the latest period, underlying profit before tax came down 4.5 percent to 25.7 million pounds from 26.9 million pounds in the earlier year.
Underlying earnings per share were 26.7 pence, 2.6 percent lower than 27.4 pence a year ago.
For the first half, the underlying EBITDA reduced 0.5 percent to 37.3 million pounds from 37.5 million pounds in the prior year.
The company's revenue went up 6.7 percent to 144.14 million pounds from 135.01 million pounds in the prior year.
PayPoint Group net revenue improved to 84.67 million pounds from 84.56 million pounds in the prior year.
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