Paypoint plc (LON:PAY) today posted a trading update for the three months to December 31, 2020 (Q3 FY21), revealing a drop in revenues.

In the three months to end-December 2020, underlying group net revenue from continuing operations amounted to £24.5 million, down £3.0 million (10.8%) from the year-ago period. This includes the cessation of the British Gas contract (£1.7 million).

UK retail services net revenue decreased by 1.4% from a year earlier to £10.6 million, with increases in card payment transactions and service fees from PayPoint One offset by the £0.4 million impact of compensation paid to retail partners following a card services outage on 14 November 2020 and reduced ATM volumes.

Strong card payment volumes were maintained, growing significantly by 46.2% year on year to 49.7 million transactions. UK parcels transactions increased by 6.6%, delivering a resilient performance despite Covid-19 restrictions.

UK retail network increased to 27,758 sites (31 March 2020: 26,829), with minimal impact from ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

UK bill payments net revenue decreased by 33.5% to £9.5 million. Excluding the British Gas impact, net revenue decreased by 24.3% and transactions decreased by 23.5%, primarily due to consumers making fewer, larger payments during the Covid-19 period.

PayPoint saw continued digital payments growth, with eMoney transactions increasing by 25.8% and net revenue by 22.2%.

PayPoint also updated on the disposal of its Romanian business. In October 2020, PayPoint announced the disposal of its Romanian business to Innova Capital. The transaction is expected to complete at the end of March 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

As at December 31, 2020, PayPoint had net corporate debt of £5.9 million (31 March 2020: £12.0 million) reflecting cash balances of £9.1 million (31 March 2020: £58.0 million), less borrowings of £15.0 million (31 March 2020: £70.0 million) from the revolving credit facility.

The Board previously declared an interim dividend of 15.6 pence per share. The first instalment of the interim ordinary dividend of 7.8 pence per share was paid on December 29, 2020. The second instalment of the same amount will be paid on March 8, 2021.