GHL records 93.5% jump in 2Q net profit to RM3 mil

by **Cals** Wed 20 Aug 2014, 22:28

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Supriya Surendran

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 22:05

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): GHL Systems Bhd saw a 93.5% jump in its net profits for its second quarter ended June 30, 2014 (2QFY14) to RM3.04 million from RM1.57 million in 2QFY13, due to the full contribution from e-pay Asia Ltd, an Australia-listed electronic payment service provider that it had acquired in February.

Revenue was RM45.3 million in 2QFY14, almost triple the RM16.25 million it recorded in 2QFY13.

But the payment solutions provider’s basic earnings per share dropped from 1.08 sen to 0.72 sen in the same period.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, GHL said the acquisition of e-pay has effectively jump-started its transaction payment acquisition (TPA) business, as e-pay directly contracts with numerous merchants for the provision of prepaid top-ups and bill collection services.

“The group is in the process of integrating e-pay’s operations into the group. The acquisition of e-pay has significantly expanded our footprint in Malaysia by roughly adding a further 18,000 point of sales,” it said.

Similarly, GHL is growing its TPA business by contracting directly with merchants for the provision of credit card payments.

“The credit card TPA business is relatively new; it was first launched in Thailand at the end of 1Q14. And in Malaysia and the Philippines, GHL is awaiting final bank and regulatory approvals before it can commence its TPA initiatives,” it added.

GHL said its 2014 prospects remains positive as it expects the investments it has made this year in growing its new businesses to strengthen its overall position in the years ahead.

In a separate filing, the group has also proposed to implement a one-for-two bonus issue that will involve the issuance of up to 215.05 million new shares to its shareholders to reward its existing shareholders. The bonus issue will enlarge the group’s total number of shares to some 646.58 million shares.