Prism Holdings Limited ended the six-months to 31 December 2005 with 23% revenue growth, the company capitalised on the growing global demand for its Intellectual Property technologies, solutions and services.
In an announcement made today the Trusted Transactions company reported diluted headline earnings up 69% and an increase in revenues by 23% as a result of strong sales performance from its Transaction Security and Services divisions.
"Given that secure electronic transactions are becoming a way of life in the electronic era, as we increasingly move away from cash to a cashless environment, Prism`s market niche is a high growth one. By further increasing our broad blue chip customer base, global sales channels and partnerships, Prism can look to maintaining real growth," says Alvin Els, Prism`s Chief Executive Officer.
Els says the results are a good reflection of the success of the organisational restructure which took place in the last financial year, a move which enabled the company to focus on volume sales of Prism IP products.
"Prism`s realignment of the company into product focused Business Units, has allowed us to better allocate resources in the development of products and solutions as well as to harness the growth potential within the particular focus areas of each Unit," he adds.
Each Business Unit is accountable for every aspect and all divisional technology development is engineered specifically to not only enhance current product, solution and service offerings but lead the way to effective product advancement in the coming financial year. As a result the company continues to be involved in the delivery of groundbreaking technology developments.
Examples include the Transaction Security division`s Outdoor Payment Terminal (OPT) which forms an integral part of Radiant`s advanced forecourt solution to be rolled out across South-East Asia for an international petroleum company. The division has further supplied its Incognito Transaction Security Module (TSM410) to major banks to enable high-performance, high-security services used in Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) switches and other top-end transaction processing arenas.
In addition to wins in 2003 and 2004, Prism was awarded first place for the TSM410 in the Department of Science and Technology`s 2005 Technology Top 100 Awards programme for commercial product innovation. The product complies with the international Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) security certification. Prism is the first company in Africa and the second in the Southern Hemisphere to achieve the FIPS 140-2 certification, which is a requirement for entry into several markets including the US and Europe.
Prism`s Chip and Wireless division has established itself as a leading mobile technology innovator. The division`s recently launched uSIMetrix(tm) operating system (OS), a next generation SIM product designed for use in 3rd Generation (3G) mobile networks, provides support for 3G advanced data and mobile commerce applications. The division has extended its highly successful SIM OS licensing business to incorporate uSIMetrix(tm), this enables third parties to license this software from Prism and to apply the technology at respective customers and markets in an unencumbered manner.
Prism`s EMV initiatives are driven from within the various Business Units and the company is collaborating closely with leading suppliers of payment processing devices to enable their technologies for the stringent security standards required by the card associations. The company continues with the ongoing drive towards retail, banking and petroleum EMV compliance.
South Africa`s premier bank-independent transactional payment switch, EasyPay has continued to deliver solid revenue growth arising from buoyant conditions in the retail environment, new customers and consistent increases in volumes of electronic bill payments processed. The scope of payment services was expanded during the period to include the payment of TV licences and traffic fines at EasyPay enabled outlets.
"Despite difficult trading conditions in the Chip and Wireless division, prospects for the Group as a whole remain favourable considering the prevailing market and economic conditions. The Board of Directors considers that these conditions are likely to result in real growth in headline earnings per share for the remainder of the financial year," he concludes.
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JSE-listed Prism Holdings Limited is a Trusted Transactions company with expertise in the area of secure electronic transaction technologies and services. The Group has a strong presence in South Africa and an established and expanding footprint across Africa and South-East Asia. Prism`s head office is located in Johannesburg, South Africa and has a regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Prism has a proven track record in the delivery of own IP transaction technologies and end-to-end solutions tailored for the retail, utilities, banking, cellular and petroleum industries. The Group has developed and implemented innovative payment-centric products that bridge the following technologies:
* Chip and Wireless products: including telecoms and financial software, GSM SIM cards, SAMs, and prepaid telephone cards.
* Encryption products: Incognito Transaction Security Modules (TSMs), security products ensuring transaction integrity, and third party products.
* OEM Transaction Modules including Secure Payment Modules, PIN Entry Devices, card readers and Outdoor Payment Terminals (OPTs).
* Pay Point Technologies incorporating secure integrated POS payment systems, VeriFone products, EMV upgrades, payment software and FlexiLane/POS multi-lane chip payment solution.
* Services division which manages the largest bank-independent financial switch in Southern Africa - EasyPay services.
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