Ian Strafford-Taylor, Chief Executive Officer FairFX PLC LON:FFX, stated: “The Company had a strong 2015 and delivered excellent revenue improvements by following our strategic focus on the increasing retail card customers. Maintaining our strategy of investment in marketing and technology has yielded discernable improvements in customer conversion rates and increased customer spending. Since raising significant funds in Q1 2016, the Group is now in a strong position to push forward with its focus on the corporate card market, whilst maintaining its level of activity in acquiring new retail customers.
“Despite a somewhat weaker macro environment during Q1, our underlying customer base is performing strongly. Spending on retail cards is up 25% on Q1 2015 with top-ups of existing cards also showing growth. In addition, overall customer activity has picked up in recent weeks and we have some exciting deployments of new technology scheduled before our peak summer season. Accordingly, we are confident the Group remains in line with market expectations for the full year.”
Marketing and technology investment delivering higher customer conversion rates and card spend
FairFX, the low cost multi-currency payments service, has given DirectorsTalk its audited full year results for the year ended 31 December 2015.
2015 Financial Highlights:
-- Turnover up 31.9% to GBP626.8 million -- Revenue up 35.7% to GBP7.4 million -- Gross profit up 31.8% to GBP5.0 million -- Money transfer and deliverable FX execution products turnover up 40% to GBP299.2 million -- Currency card revenue up 37.5% GBP241.0 million -- Pre-tax loss of GBP3.4 million in line with forecast -- Marketing spend of GBP3.2 million and Options charge of GBP0.4 million
2015 Operational Highlights:
-- 103,338 new retail customers added to the business, bringing 2015 total to 508,048 -- 75,039 retail card customers added in period, up 56% from FY 2014 -- Delivered new mobile-responsive website increasing conversion -- Launched new Apps across all platforms -- Launched 'FairFX Business' with dedicated website to increase Corporate presence
— Title sponsorship for the Sky Sports F1 programming season significantly raised brand awareness among key customer audience
— Continued strategic investment in technology development to maintain pace of expansion via new products
Q1 2016 Highlights:
-- Q1 activity in line with full-year forecast
— Underlying growth of 3% in revenue for the period at GBP145.5 million (Q1 2015: GBP141.7 million after deducting non-recurring items)
-- Revenue growth of 15% in core business of cards and single pay only -- Single pay revenue up 10.8% to GBP83.6 million -- Corporate platform revenue up 55.8% to GBP13.3 million -- Retail card spending up by 25% on a like-for-like basis versus Q1 2015 -- 16,280 new customers added -- 11,774 currency cards sold -- Strong momentum in activity towards end of Quarter, continuing into April -- Completed GBP5.25 million equity raise (before expenses)
