Optimal Payments Sees Revenues Soar in 2015

Posted on: August 29, 2015, 12:59h. 

Last updated on: August 29, 2015, 03:46h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Optimal Payments has found itself with a bigger presence in American markets over the past year, owing to increased usage of brands like Neteller in regulated markets.

That seems to have paid off for the company, as revenues are up more than 40 percent for the company in the first half of 2015 when compared to the same period in 2014.

Overall, Optimal Payments collected $223 million in revenues during the first six months of this year.

That’s up from just over $159 million last year, a substantial gain for the payment processing company.

Much of that revenue increase was due to improvement in its straight through processing (STP) department, which grew by more than 47 percent year-over-year.

That was largely due to the purchase of two businesses based in the United States, Meritus and GMA, both of which were acquired late in 2014.

The company’s stored value services, chiefly Neteller, also saw improvement, growing a little more than 20 percent annually to bring in $49.8 million in revenue.

North American Operations Become Focus

The changing focus of the company can be seen in the regional numbers posted by Optimal in the first half of each of the last two years.

In the first half of 2014, North American operations made up just under 16 percent of the company’s revenues; in the same period this year, that share had risen to 43 percent, making it the largest segment of the company’s business.

“We have continued to deliver on a number of our key objectives, notably the integration of the US businesses we acquired last year which have significantly contributed to the growth of the Group and more recently completion of the acquisition of Skrill which is set to transform the business on a number of levels,” said Optimal Payments CEO Joel Leonoff.

Leonoff is talking about the reverse takeover of Skrill, a €1.1 billion ($1.24 billion) purchase that transformed the business by making it a clear leader in the world of online gambling payment processing.

Over the past year, the company that already controlled Neteller bought the prepaid voucher company Ukash and Skrill, putting three of the largest brand names in the industry under its banner.

More Acquisitions Possible for Optimal

But that might not be the end of the acquisitions for Optimal. According to Leonoff, the company is already in the process of looking for more potential candidates to purchase in the future.

“As we come out of the tail-end of the integration with Skrill, we want to be ready to look at other companies that we feel are accretive to our shareholders and add a lot of value to our business,” Leonoff said. “As we approach $1 billion in revenue, we need to find companies that can move the dial a little bit and make sure they add a material amount of revenue and profit.”

The desire for continued growth comes while Optimal Payments is trying to be admitted to the London Stock Exchange as well as the FTSE 250 index. The company’s stock rose by about 8 percent after announcing its results for the first half of 2015.

Analysts expect Optimal’s sales to increase significantly in the second half of 2015 thanks to the acquisition of Skrill. That, combined with relatively lower costs thanks to synergies between their various platforms, should see profits rise as well.