Recently-listed Net 1 UEPS Technologies has released its interim results for the period ended December 2008.
Net 1 took its place on the JSE in October, sporting a strong pre-listing statement, followed by marginal revenue growth in its first set of interim results for the Johannesburg exchange.
Revenue increased to $129.3 million, from $128.8 million. The company says: “The current state of the global economy is, in Net 1 UEPS's view, forcing people to go back to basics where the company's technology operates in the best possible way.”
Net 1's operating income took a knock, with the company reporting a decrease to $50.1 million, from $54.1 million. However, both headline earnings per share, now at $52c per share, and net income, sitting at $54 million, increased significantly off a high base.
The company expects 15% growth in fundamental earnings per share, coupled with a 25% increase in GAAP earnings per share, over the next half year.
Net 1 is also listed on the Nasdaq and boasts a market capitalisation of R10.2 billion (as of the beginning of October 2008) in that market. The company explained last year that the JSE listing was not a means to raise capital, but rather to reach a South African shareholding that had previously been ignored.
The company, a provider of smart card technologies and systems, was locally developed and has made headway on the US exchange. "It's not really about raising the money in SA. Although, there is always the option, and maybe one day we will need it," explained CEO Dr Serge Belamant at the listing ceremony last year.
The listing also simplified Net 1's financial reporting for the US exchange by eliminating the trust that held the South African shareholding.
The company has had a history with the exchange, when it bought out Applied Technology Holdings in 2004. The company was de-listed and dissolved into Net 1 as a whole.
While Belamant had expected to pay out dividends as a perk to listing on the JSE, Net 1 did not declare any dividend in the interim results.
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