Equals Sees Strong International Payments Growth in H1 2020

Equals, a B2B e-banking and international payments group, has published its financial results for the first half of 2020 and an additional 14 days till July 14, showcasing a total revenue of £13.7 million – the figure was £13.6 million for the same period in the previous year.

The Group, in its official announcement on Thursday, pointed out its shift of focus from the legacy B2C travel money business to the B2B revenue streams, as the business from the first is taking a hit.

Equals highlighted that it generated £12.3 million in revenues from all businesses, excluding the B2C travel money outposts, a jump of 23 percent compared to the reported £10 million in revenue from the same a year ago.

COVID-19 has hit the B2C business, but B2B is flourishing

The overall revenue from B2B streams jumped 30 percent year-on-year to £9.0 million, while the B2C revenues went down by 29 percent year-on-year to £4.7 million. The Group pointed out that the impact on the B2C business is primarily due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak across the world.

“Banking revenues were flat overall, although B2B banking began to increase in the latest quarter, benefitting from the FY-2019 investment in the Group’s technology infrastructure,” the Equals wrote.

The half-yearly financial report also detailed that 60 percent of the Group’s revenue came from its International Payments segment with a revenue of £8.2 million. It was a 71 percent jump as the same segment witnessed only £3.4 million in the previous year. Notably, the tremendous growth was also fueled by the Group’s acquisition of Hermex and Casco last year.

“Inevitably there was a slowdown in Q2-2020 across all segments but there has been resilience particularly in International Payments,” Equals noted. “Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has naturally affected the Group, revenues are returning to more normalized levels in most B2B business segments since the initial impact in late March.”

Uncertainties including COVID-19, Wirecard collapse, and even the impact of Brexit also forced the Group to shed 15-20 percent with a few new hires in the revenue-generating roles.