Equals Group posts £3.2M loss in 1H-2020 in move to B2B FX
LSE-AIM listed e-banking and international payments firm Equals Group plc (formerly FairFX) has posted its first half results for 2020, indicating a £3.2 million loss for the period as the company continues its shift from retail to B2B FX services.
We had earlier reported that 1H-2020 revenue at Equals Group (£13.8 million) was up slightly over 1H-2019 (£13.6 million), but was down significantly from the second half of last year (£17.4 million).
Equals said that B2B revenue increased year-on-year by 32% as the group continues its focus on SMEs. B2B now represents 66% of total revenue, up from 50% in H1-2019 and 60% in H2-2019.
Giving a peek into Q3 (which is almost completely in the books) at the company, Equals said that its International Payments business has been “resilient” in Q3 at £3.8 million (£68k per day) compared to Q2 at £3.5 million (£58k per day). Banking Services remains flat, but is better than expected. Travel focused product lines, of course, continue to be impacted by Covid-19 travel restrictions and lack of consumer confidence. Equals’ Corporate Expenses platform is apparently recovering to pre-Covid-19 levels. And overall, Revenue per day of £114k in Q3-2020 to date is much improved over £93k per day in Q2-2020.
The market seemed to take Equals’ results in stride, with LON:EQLS shares trading up by 4.5% in pre-noon activity at the LSE.
Commenting on the results, Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals Group plc, said:
“We believe it is testament to the quality of the business and the resilience of our B2B focused model that we are reporting both an increase in revenue and decrease in underlying expenditure against the headwinds posed by a combination of Covid-19 and the changes forced upon the business as a result of the demise of Wirecard.
“Our revenues continue to grow against this unprecedented backdrop and we have not yet completed our exercise of cost savings which will benefit the second half of the year. With a stable cash position, we remain positive about our future prospects and although we are conscious of the potential for further disruption as a result of Covid-19, and indeed Brexit, we remain confident about the outlook for the Group.”
Equals Group’s full 1H-2020 results can be seen here.