Safecharge Share Discussion Threads

[jarega85] 13/4/2018 15:10

Seller cleared and buying returns

[rivaldo] 12/4/2018 10:37

I also note today's large acquisition by PTEC of Snaitech. Snaitech has revenue and EBITDA of €890 million and €136 million respectively:



I assume that Sagi will get Snaitech to take on SCH's products pronto.

[rivaldo] 12/4/2018 07:18

News of a new customer win:



"April 11, 2018

Blue Panorama Airlines takes off with SafeCharge’s Payments technology

SafeCharge (AIM: SCH), a leading payments technology company, has been selected as a new payment partner by Blue Panorama Airlines, an Italian based airline fully-owned by The Uvet Group. SafeCharge’s Payments Engine is an end-to-end platform providing a smart and direct connection to Visa and MasterCard. For airlines, this all-in-one service is particularly attractive as it enables the implementation of automated payment routing logic, access to detailed data insights and optimal payments success.

Blue Panorama Airlines provides both domestic and international flights to more than one and a half million customers, specialising in flights between Italy and Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, both to tour operators and direct to customers. It also offers low-cost short haul flights through its Blue-Express brand. One of the challenges the airline faced was the ability to accept payments across multiple channels. SafeCharge addresses this challenge by providing cross-channel payment processing to customers that purchase flights through various channels such as travel agencies, via the website, and through dedicated call centres.

Fraud protection was another key focus area for Blue Panorama Airlines. Fraud checking is a very important component of a successful payment strategy since airlines and other travel providers carry the risk of large transactions over a considerable time period. SafeCharge’s fraud prevention solution supports specific needs and configurations for the airline industry. High risk transactions are redirected to SafeCharge’s Dynamic 3D Secure solution for additional checks. SafeCharge’s dedicated risk management team collaborates closely with Blue Panorama Airlines to continuously improve screening rules and assist in manual reviews directly or via the SafeCharge Merchant Risk Support Interface....

....SafeCharge is already working with El Al Airlines and several other OTAs globally. The company is rapidly expanding in the travel sector, bringing customised cross-channel payment processing and risk management offerings to the industry.

etc"

[johnv] 11/4/2018 10:17

Don't need a bid now, will be too low

[trentendboy] 11/4/2018 09:18

Bid could come at any time

[igoe104] 11/4/2018 08:27

Yes, this is starting to look better, it could be divi hunters jumping aboard.

[jarega85] 10/4/2018 17:44

Nice to see some blue on this bad boy and be back above 300p, hopefully a turn and a slow climb coming back. It is certainly due

[johnv] 10/4/2018 14:54

Moving up, tried to buy another 5000, no luck

[rivaldo] 09/4/2018 09:23

Positive update on the results in this weekend's issue of SCSW, concluding that "improving momentum supports an imminent breakout on the charts".

[trentendboy] 22/3/2018 22:02

Nice - seems a decent uplift and about where I think it should be trading

[rivaldo] 22/3/2018 08:54

Canaccord have reiterated their Buy and 380p target....

[trentendboy] 20/3/2018 06:55

Good review. Nothing new but good to see them thinking along the same linesThe arguments are why I keep investingQuality customers, pays dividends, cash generative, growing sector, TO possibility but big players, limited liquidity so moves rapidly

[rivaldo] 19/3/2018 09:46

Tipped in the IC as follows (and it doesn't even mention the $108m cash pile):

"Payments services group Safecharge (SCH) reported impressive transaction growth in 2017, with numbers up 38 per cent to 174m, while the total value of transactions increased 19 per cent to $9.64bn (£6.9bn). Around 30 per cent was attributable to Safecharge Acquiring, the company’s dedicated platform, which allows for the processing of credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant without the need of a financial institution.

Increased operating costs ate into statutory profits, but if growth came at a cost it hasn’t started to drag on the balance sheet. Cash balances contracted slightly, but this is set against an improved cash conversion rate, up six percentage points to a healthy 83 per cent.

The group’s strategy of increasing its foothold within high-quality 'tier 1' customers looks to be paying off. In the period it launched services for 888 (888), Plus 500 (PLUS), Paddy Power (PPB) and others. It also won new customers from a range of areas such as gaming, airlines and ride sharing, the services for which will be launched in 2018.

Analysts at Shore Capital are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profit of $31.4m, giving EPS of 18.3¢ in 2018 (from $29.2m and 17.8¢ in 2017).

IC View

The payments specialist is trading on an enterprise/cash profit multiple of 13, which is in advance of its historic relationship to the sector. But, given the rapid growth in transactions, cash generative nature of the business, and blue-chip clients, we see further upside ahead. Buy."

[rivaldo] 16/3/2018 09:02

Some decent coverage of the results in these two articles. Firstly, I liked this comment from the CEO:



"Commenting on the company’s results, the CEO of SafeCharge, David Avgi, said: “The Group has a robust and scalable platform that can accommodate transaction volumes over 10 times greater than currently processed."

Secondly, a nice overall summary of the results:



"SafeCharge grows transaction volumes by 38%, processes almost $10 billion in value
14 March 2018

Today, SafeCharge – a leading payments technology company – announced the number of transactions processed in 2017 increased by 38% year-on-year to nearly 174 million transactions, having processed $9.6 billion in value, up from $8.1 billion in 2016.

The company also disclosed very strong growth in the value of transactions processed through its own Acquiring platform recording over $2.1 billion, up 122% from $970 million in 2016.

As Israel continues to produce an impressive number of highly successful tech companies for a country with a population of just 9 million people, SafeCharge has established its R&D team in central Tel Aviv, leveraging on the top tech talent the country has to offer. To further extend the company’s expertise, the SafeCharge Group has expanded to 11 locations globally by opening new offices in Singapore, the United States, and the Netherlands.

2017 has been a transformational year, where transactional growth has been driven by expansion in verticals such as ecommerce and travel. Throughout the year, the company has launched several innovative products such as Marketplace Manager to cater to the specific needs of the fast-growing marketplace businesses, Reconciliation Manager, a unique service for businesses to outsource the reconciliation of their transactions across all payment service providers, merchant platforms and banks, as well as further investment in the unattended cashless payments space.

SafeCharge holds a European Acquiring licence, which allows for the processing of credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant without the need of a bank or another financial institution. The company’s Acquiring business performed well ahead of expectations in 2017, amounting to approximately 30% of transaction volumes in December 2017 and recording a substantial increase in transaction value of 122% year-on-year.

“2017 has been a very successful year for SafeCharge as we have delivered on our strategy of diversifying our customer base, enhancing our technology and investing substantially in new products and key senior management, which will take us forward to even stronger future growth,” explained David Avgi, CEO, SafeCharge. “SafeCharge is keeping its finger on the pulse of emerging global payment trends and customer demands to continue building on our successes.”

SafeCharge 2017 key milestones include:

Customer success in digital, ecommerce and travel
SafeCharge reshaped its existing customer base with a series of successes in sectors such as digital services, ecommerce, retail and travel. Additionally, the company continued to cement its dominant position in the gaming and financial sectors, expanding relationships with major brands such as 888, Bet365, Paddy Power, EuroBet and Plus500.

First payments provider to roll out WeChat Pay at POS in the UK
At the end of last year, SafeCharge became the first payments provider in the UK to support WeChat Pay at the point-of-sale via a partnership with Camden Market, a new customer and part of the Market Tech portfolio.

Expansion into new geographies - new offices and senior appointments
SafeCharge experienced global growth, expanding into new geographies with offices opened in Singapore and Hong Kong, followed by a significant regional partnership with UnionPay International. SafeCharge inaugurated new offices in the US and Netherlands.

Granted a Payment Institution licence by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
The licence allows SafeCharge to provide payments services in the UK in accordance with the Payment Services Regulations. It also secures the company’s future in the UK market after any Brexit scenario, should there be changes to the passporting rules. This is in addition to the existing authorisation as a European Electronic Money Institution."

[trentendboy] 15/3/2018 11:46

Still seems a fair target.

I think the customer rebalancing has been underestimated. These are higher quality revenues and more resilient - more tier 1s.

This is the process of going from grey to white using grey profits to get there.

It is a strategy that has been followed successfully by others.

SCH do appear to know what they are doing and it is no surprise that there has been a less than spectacular growth this year

[rivaldo] 15/3/2018 08:40

Berenberg today say Buy with 350p target:

[rivaldo] 14/3/2018 12:27

Good summary from the respected Techmarketview:



"SafeCharge closes solid year of trading
Wednesday 14 March 2018

SafeCharge closes solid year of trading

Full year results out today from AIM-listed SafeCharge (a provider of payments processing services, technology and risk management solutions for online and mobile businesses) show the firm achieved good underlying growth of 17% to $111m. “Underlying growth" refers to a comparison with 2016 following the reshaping of the existing customer base to upgrade the "quality of revenues". A straight compare on the previous year shows revenue up 7%, with a stronger H2 where growth was 11%.

Growth has come from both new customers and through expanding existing relationships and of note is that c30% of transaction volumes were processed through its own SafeCharge Acquiring platform in December 2017.

In terms of profits, the Adjusted EBITDA margin dipped from 32% to 30%, which we think is probably a result of some of the work it has done so reshape its customer base.

For 2018, guidance from the Board indicates that revenue will be $125m-$130m, with Adjusted EBITDA of $36m-$38m.

We’ll have more once we’ve met up with the company.

The payments sector is large and growing rapidly as the migration of cash to electronic payment continues to accelerate. Subscribers to our Financial Services research should read “Understanding the UK Payments market” for more context on the market."

[rivaldo] 14/3/2018 10:18

Nice write-up on the results:



"Safecharge

£450m market cap SafeCharge International Group (LSE: SCH) is a UK-based payment services provider. The company provides these services to a blue-chip client base all around the world, with its proprietary payment platform connecting directly to all major card schemes including Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

Reporting full-year numbers for 2017 this morning, the company revealed that it processed 174m transactions last year, a 38% increase on 2016. This pushed revenues up a healthy 7% to $111.7m, although diluted earnings per share fell 9% to 15.8 cents on the back of larger employee-related and restructuring costs.

Turning to the dividend, SafeCharge operates a policy whereby it pays out 75% of adjusted EBITDA, as long as there is no material M&A activity. As a result, the company has this morning announced a full-year payout of 16.9 cents per share, a yield of 4% at the current share price. That now marks three consecutive dividend increases since the firm paid its first distribution in 2014. In this time, the payout has grown over 100%. Can investors expect more dividend growth going forward?

As it stands, City analysts currently forecast a payout of 21 cents per share for 2018. At today’s share price, that equates to a yield of 5%. However, analysts’ forecasts can be a little inaccurate sometimes, so I’d approach that estimate with an element of caution. For example, today’s 16.9 cent dividend is around 11% below what analysts had pencilled in for 2017.

Nonetheless, with CEO David Avgi commenting this morning that “we remain confident that our focus on higher quality revenues driven by a healthy sales pipeline will yield profitable revenue growth in 2018 and beyond,” the outlook here does look positive, in my view."

[runthejoules] 14/3/2018 08:10

Are the currency headwinds why we're 11% down on profit?

[igoe104] 14/3/2018 07:55

Spot on review Rivaldo, the only concern is the currency headwinds for me, (which is out of there control.)

.

[jarega85] 14/3/2018 07:51

Cash pile has increased ?

[rivaldo] 14/3/2018 07:33

2017 was a year of consolidation as already known, with adjusted EPITDA today at the higher end of expectations.

Lovely 16.89c dividend. And SCH's cash pile has increased to $108m.

Most importantly, the outlook for this year is excellent:

"Building on the record revenues and transaction processing volumes achieved in Q4 2017, the Group has made an excellent start to 2018 with a strong sales pipeline in both existing and new verticals. Transaction volumes continue to grow with volume exceeding US$ 1 billion for the first time in December 2017 and with very strong growth in the value of transactions processed through SafeCharge Acquiring."

And:

"The Directors look forward with confidence to 2018 and beyond.

The Board is issuing guidance for 2018 with revenues expected to be in the range of US$125m to US$130m, and Adjusted EBITDA1 between US$36m and US$38m. This will be driven by continued growth from our existing client base and new customers due to start processing in 2018."

[longwell] 14/3/2018 07:15

Down she goes.
Bloody hell this is the worst feb/ march i have had for 3 years on the market.
Glad i bought spreadbetting shares, they will do well in this volatile market.
Can see my 20k invested taking a hit here and dividend reduced.

[trentendboy] 13/3/2018 18:43

The yield is still impressive given it is throwing off cashBuying for that alone at the moment