US expansion drives 40% increase in Optimal revenues
Payment processor reports revenues of $233m for the first half of the year
Optimal Paymentâs growing North American business saw a 40% surge in revenues in the first half of the year, the firm has reported. [private]
Revenues hit $223m in the six-month period ended 30 June 2015, leading to a 28% increase in EBITDA to $49.9m and profit after tax of $37.3m.
Growth came via Optimalâs recently expanded US business and in particular the integration of Meritus Payment Solutions and Global Merchant Advisors (GMA), which the firm acquired last year for $225m.
Revenues from its North American business accounted for 43% or $96.3m of the total, up from just 16% in H1 last year.
Revenues from its NETELLER business were up 20% during the period to $49.8m while its NEXBANX offering saw revenues increase 47% to $173m.
âOur first half results show continued strong performance with growth in NETELLER and NETBANX including a significant contribution from the integration of Meritus and GMA, the US centric businesses we acquired last year,â Joel Leonoff (pictured), Optimal Payments CEO, said.
During the period Optimal announced it would acquire rivals Skrill for $1.2bn with the transaction completing earlier this month.
âSkrill [is] a transformational transaction for us and for our shareholders and one which positions us as a key player in the global payments industry,â Leonoff said.
âCurrent trading continues to be strong and we believe that the consolidated business places us in a much stronger position in the payments landscape and are eagerly looking forward to our future as a combined entity,â he added.
Optimal said it was working on a new name for the group that would âcreate a more distinctive brandâ for the combined businesses, and would reveal its new name and look in the coming months.