(Reuters) - Bill payment services provider PayPoint Plc (L:PAYP) said its first-half profit rose about 16 percent, driven by cost deferrals as well as growth in its mobile payments division and Romanian bill payment transactions unit.
The company, which counts Tesco (LON:TSCO), Asda and Sainsbury's among its customers, said adjusted operating profit before impairment charges rose to 24.7 million pounds in the six months ended Sept. 30, from 21.3 million pounds a year earlier.
Shares in the company were up 1.7 percent at 1,058 pence at 0819 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
The company's profit was helped largely by deferral of costs associated with its rollout of PayPoint One service for retailers into the second half, which offset a fall in group revenues of 1.5 percent to 58.4 million pounds due to a decline in bill payment transactions in the UK.
PayPoint has been looking to dispose of assets such as its mobile payments services business to focus on growing its core retail transactions business, which offers greater revenue visibility due to its annuity-type revenue stream.
The company launched PayPoint One on Sept. 28, as it looked to lure retailers with a better interface, which analysts said should attract retailers with smaller technology budgets compared with larger players, helped by its competitive pricing.
PayPoint said it expected to roll out PayPoint at 4,000 sites by the end of the year and expected costs to increase in the second half due to a faster rollout of PayPoint One.
PayPoint, which serves 39,000 convenience stores in the UK and Romania, said revenue from Romania rose 23.1 percent to 19.6 million pounds, with bill payment transactions growing 11.7 percent in the region.
The company incurred a charge of 18.2 million pounds last year after writing down the value of its mobile pay and online payment businesses.