Fairfx Share Discussion Threads

[panic investor] 03/9/2018 12:19

Nice bit of consolidation - ready to go

[its the oxman] 24/8/2018 23:54

Hoping the 150p push is now on the way

[chartsworth] 24/8/2018 17:23

Nice little jump today

[saucepan] 24/8/2018 09:48

Looking good for further new highs.

[chartsworth] 21/8/2018 12:24

Just bought in again here after previous attempt stopped out. Aiming for 15-20%.

[11_percent] 15/8/2018 12:33

Is this a "buy the dip"

[twistednik] 15/8/2018 12:03

Low volume August pull back imho. MMs like to 'shake out' the weak hands at times like these.

[deltrotter] 15/8/2018 11:41

Decent pull back to buy into... or not.

[chartsworth] 10/8/2018 13:35

I'm wondering if we're seeing a price contraction now before the next break upwards.

[its the oxman] 08/8/2018 13:26

Everyone ready for the 150p push

[u813061] 02/8/2018 19:54

Write up from shareholder Crystal Amber Fund

FairFX has been offering international payment services to retail and corporate customers in the UK since 2007. Its payments platform enables low-cost multi-currency accounts and pre-paid cards in a market estimated to be worth £60 billion a year. FairFX can deliver better value to consumers than full-service banks burdened with regulation and legacy systems, or high street Bureaux de Change providers that carry the cost of retail estates.

Unlike most in the FinTech space, the company grew until 2014 by prudently re-investing profits in product and marketing investments. But like others, it sought to secure funds at a high valuation when it came to list in 2014. The IPO was however too small at £2.6 million, providing the company with insufficient growth capital in an increasingly competitive industry. Additional fund raisings were completed in December of the same year and in 2015, but were also in aggregate insufficient to tackle FairFX's opportunities.

In March 2016, the Fund engaged with the company's board to undertake a placing at 20 pence per share that would fund materially increased marketing expenditure for growth. In 2016, we saw a step change at FairFX. Transaction revenues are up 28 per cent and international payments turnover is up 49 per cent.

The acquisition of Q Money's e-Money licence increased the capabilities of FairFX. Additionally, the growth of the executive team underpins FairFX's move towards general SME banking services. For corporates and SMEs, FairFX can deliver expense management platforms, banking capabilities and payment services in a low-cost environment. The opportunity there is compelling: banks are unattractive to SMEs and offer expensive payment solutions.

The acquisition of CardOne, announced in July 2017, brings a full service digital banking platform as a part of a £25 million fund raising which will also help with overseas expansion, marketing and IT.

[blondviking] 02/8/2018 12:46

Not sure what MM's are up to today. Just bought at 140.35p so todays sells could actually be buys! I am going to top up more especially with interest rates going up

[sharesoc] 30/7/2018 19:41

FairFX's presentation from our 11th July London growth company seminar is now available in our members area here:

[rampmeister] 27/7/2018 19:09

Another ath.....yawn.

RM

[saucepan] 27/7/2018 15:47

Great volume supporting this afternoon's convincing breakout.

[mirabeau] 26/7/2018 18:30

Thanks for the IC tip - I see the IC Simon Thompson's gone to ground after the MCAP debacle though to be fair to the fella many of his calls have been pretty much spot on - though they have become a tad speccy due to his uncanny ability to move the market unlike many other stock 'tipsters'

[lomax99] 26/7/2018 17:04

IC:

FairFX: a fair price for stellar growth

The 2016 Brexit vote and the subsequent devaluation of the pound have made it much harder for Brits to buy foreign currencies at attractive rates, while avoiding high additional fees.

Enter FairFX (FFX), which “disintermediates” incumbent banks to offer low-cost multi-currency payments for individuals and businesses around the world. Its foreign exchange platform comprises prepaid currency cards, physical cash and wire payments between accounts. And, thanks to a judicious acquisition strategy, the group also recently entered the digital banking realm, with a focus on small and-medium-sized enterprise customers.

Last year was pivotal for FairFX. 'Turnover' – the gross value of transactions processed – rose 40.5 per cent to exceed £1.1bn, fee-based revenues soared 51.7 per cent to £15.5m, and the group reported its first full-year profit since joining the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in 2014. This momentum accelerated in the first half of 2018, with turnover up a whopping 146 per cent to £1.1bn – even more impressive when one considers that strong margins were maintained, implying efficient scaling up. Yet, despite this progress, the shares still trade on a relatively modest multiple of forecast earnings. A re-rating could be imminent – especially if broker forecasts prove conservative, as we think may prove the case.

Excluding acquisitions, group turnover for the half-year to June 2018 still rose 22.8 per cent to £533m. Like-for-like turnover from prepaid cards and international payments rose 8.5 per cent to £182m and 39.1 per cent to £335m, respectively. On their own, these numbers are positive, but add in the extra volumes from City Forex – acquired in February for £6m – and international payments turnover soared 132 per cent year on year. The purchase of City Forex, which provides international payments and travel money, exemplifies FairFX’s broader strategy to in-source parts of its supply chain, to remove intermediaries and improve margins. It also brings opportunities to cross-sell FairFX’s products to City Forex customers – particularly FairFX’s corporate expenses card and platform.

The group’s burgeoning digital banking business was underpinned by two acquisitions in 2017. Last January, it bought Q-Money, gaining an e-money licence. In August, it purchased CardOne Banking – financed with a £26m placing at 58p – enabling it to provide retail and business bank accounts. FairFX can now also self-issue MasterCard branded cards, internalising another process to enhance economies of scale. And, in June, it launched ‘Fair Everywhere’, an international account for small businesses. More banking products should appear in the coming months.

True, payments and foreign exchange is a crowded space; made more so by the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive and the UK’s Open Banking initiative, encouraging challengers into the financial services market. But we think that FairFX’s diversified offering, turnover growth, loyal customer base and, vitally, profitability should work to its competitive advantage.


IC View


We’re encouraged by FairFX’s escalating turnover and broadening offering. Moreover, while revenues climbed 52 per cent in 2017 on turnover growth of 41 per cent, we think 2018’s revenue growth could exceed Cenkos’s growth estimate of 85 per cent. If margins are maintained, this could lift earnings. In any case, FairFX currently trades on an adjusted PEG of just 0.7 – representing high growth at a low price. Buy.

[its the oxman] 24/7/2018 10:20

Still looking good for 150p short term

[xajorkith] 17/7/2018 18:18

Section on BBC news at six about large credit card charges abroad - with a mention for FFX who compiled the report.

[gersemi] 16/7/2018 11:24

ST in the IC on 10 July -

'For example, FairFX’s first-half trading update revealed that total transactions processed for clients through its e-banking and foreign exchange services platforms surged by 146 per cent to £1.1bn, or by 22 per cent on a like-for-like basis once acquisitions are stripped out. If anything house broker Cenkos Securities may be conservative in its forecasts which point to an eight-fold rise in full-year pre-tax profit to £7.7m on revenue up from £15.5m to £28.7m. Moreover, with the business operationally geared, if FairFx can maintain its heady progress and lift revenues by half to £43.4m next year, then pre-tax profit could more than double to £16.2m. This implies the shares trade on a 2019 forward PE ratio of 14 and a PEG ratio of less than 0.2, so the growth potential is hardly being overvalued. Indeed, if FairFx delivers on forecasts then the share price could easily rise by half again, or more, which makes Crystal Amber a smart way of playing the upside.'

[rampmeister] 14/7/2018 13:39

Rave review from ST in weekly IC column he thinks this is 200p share price company in waiting. Surprised this hasn’t registered with ST usual following.

RM

[189189188] 14/7/2018 07:05

FAIRFX Group PLC
Half-Year Trading Statement
RNS Number : 7919T
FAIRFX Group PLC
06 July 2018

06 July 2018



FairFX Group plc



("FairFX" or "the Group" or "the Company")



Half-Year Trading Statement



Continued Strong Growth with Turnover exceeding £1 billion



FairFX, the low-cost multicurrency payments and banking service, is pleased to provide the market with a trading update for the six-month period ended 30th June 2018.



The Company has enjoyed a strong first half of trading, with substantial growth and new products launched. Against this background, strong margins have been maintained and rationalisation of the supply chain is delivering results.



Turnover* for the first half was up 146.2% year on year to £1.1 billion (2017: £434.1 million), in line with management's expectations.



On a like for like basis, excluding the acquired entities of Cardone Banking ("Cardone") and City Forex, turnover for the first half was up 22.8% to £532.9 million (2017: £434.1 million). Like-for-like turnover from prepaid cards and international payments rose 8.5% to £181.7 million and 39.1% to £334.6 million respectively.



International payments turnover for the Group increased 131.6% year on year, supported by additional volumes from City Forex, which also achieved year-on-year turnover growth of 39%. Since acquiring City Forex in February, the successful migration of FairFX's international payments to the City Forex platform has given the Group increased opportunities to scale through the platform's straight-through-processing capability.



Usage of the Company's corporate card platform rose 28.3% year on year. A strong focus on sales and marketing of the corporate product is now gaining traction and forms a key pillar of our overall offering to the SME customer base.



On the retail card and travel money side of the business, the focus remains to grow turnover whilst maintaining margins through targeted marketing and improved user experience. The incorporation of the City Forex travel cash division into the Group is helping achieve this through maximising cross-selling opportunities. In addition, as the Group now controls the entire supply chain for the travel money business, we are extracting synergies and efficiencies.



Within the Banking division, the Fair Everywhere business account was recently launched and brings together the expertise of FairFX in international payments and Cardone's banking capabilities. The account is designed to make global business banking easier, faster and cheaper for those who don't want borders to limit their business ambitions. The launch of Fair Everywhere marks the start of a number of banking products planned for release in the coming months.



The focus for the second half of 2018 will be to continue the strategy of extracting efficiencies via scale whilst evolving the banking products for SME's. In addition, the Group will be continuing to identify and maximise the numerous cross-selling opportunities. The strong first half gives the Board confidence that the Company will achieve market expectations for the full financial year.



FairFX CEO, Ian Strafford-Taylor, commented:



"The performance of FairFX during the first half of 2018 demonstrates the execution of the Company's strategy to scale its core FX services whilst evolving the digital banking offering. The substantial growth in turnover has also been achieved without reduced margins and this gives us great confidence for the prospects for 2018 and beyond."





* Turnover is defined as gross value of currency transactions sold plus gross value of deposits into bank accounts.



Contact:



FairFX Group plc

Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO

[phone]

Cenkos Securities plc

Max Hartley/Callum Davidson



[phone]

Yellow Jersey

Charles Goodwin

Katie Bairsto



[phone]

[phone]





About FairFX



FairFX is a leading challenger brand in banking and payments that disintermediates the incumbent banks with a superior user experience and low cost operating model. This enables personal and business customers to make easy, low-cost multi-currency payments in a broad range of currencies and across a range of FX products all via one integrated system. The FairFX platform facilitates payments either direct to Bank Accounts or at 30 million merchants and over 1 million ATM's in a broad range of countries globally via Mobile apps, the Internet, SMS, wire transfer and MasterCard/VISA debit cards.



FairFX provides banking and payment services to both personal and business customers through four channels: Currency Cards, Physical Currency, International Payments and Bank Accounts. The Currency Card and Physical Currency offerings facilitate multiple overseas payments at points of sale and ATM's whereas the International Payments channel supports wire transfer foreign exchange transactions direct to Bank Accounts. For Corporates, FairFX has a market-leading business-expenses solution based around its corporate prepaid platform and card that can yield significant savings on a Corporate's procurement through better controls and improved transparency and also streamline the procurement process thus saving administrative costs. Through the recent acquisition of CardOne, FairFX now has the capability to offer retail and business Bank Accounts with all the functionality you would expect from a Bank, namely faster payments, BACs, direct debits, international payments and a debit card.






This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

[nfs] 13/7/2018 16:59

I just saw my first FFX tv ad-during Tour de France on Eurosport

[lomax99] 12/7/2018 10:24

Did anyone attend the Sharesoc investor presentation yesterday? Any feedback? Thanks.

[11_percent] 09/7/2018 13:27

Can't buy....not even 500 shares.