The EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) share price is under pressure on Wednesday.
In morning trade, the payments company's shares are down 6.5% to 78.5 cents.
This follows the release of EML's half-year results.
EML share price down on half-year loss
- Revenue up 30% to $150.7 million
- Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) up $29.3 million
- Net loss after tax of $12.4 million
- Cash balance of $77.3 million
What happened during the half?
For the six months ended 31 December, EML reported a 30% increase in revenue to $150.7 million. This reflects positive recurring revenue across each business unit, lower establishment revenue impacted by growth caps and rebuild of go-to market capabilities, and a material uplift in interest revenue driven by strong treasury management and market rate improvements.
On the bottom line, EML posted a loss after tax of $12.4 million. This includes an impairment of $9.3 million in relation to PCSIL intangibles.
Management commentary
EML's interim CEO, Kevin Murphy, was pleased with the half. He said:
I'm pleased today to announce strong revenue growth which is up 30% in the half to $150.7 million. Underlying EBITDA has also grown 119% to $29.3 million. The result reflects stable recurring revenue generation in all three business units (GPR, Gifting and Digital Payments) as well as a material uplift in interest revenue driven by strong treasury management and market rate improvement.
[W]e have made progress in restoring corporate stability and are gaining momentum on our operational priorities where we are focused on solving remediation and operational challenges in our PFS Group, rebuilding our senior leadership team to upweight execution capabilities, and rebuilding our go to market team as we look to grow the profitable parts of our business.
Outlook
The company has reaffirmed its guidance for FY 2024. It expects FY 2024 underlying EBITDA in the range of $52 million to $58 million.
The EML share price is up 63% over the last 12 months.
