Dubai-based leading payment solutions provider Network International Holdings has reported a 10.4% increase in the number of transactions made, supported by the company’s expansion across the Middle East and Africa.

Publishing its results for the 12 months ending 31 December 2019, the payment solutions provider has revealed a ‘strong revenue growth’ of 12.4%, rising from $297.9m in 2018 up to $334.9m.

Revenues across the company’s African operations saw a 22.2% growth over the year, rising from $74.1m to $90.5m. The company has attributed this growth to an expansion across both the Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions business lines.

Meanwhile, Middle Eastern revenues saw a 9.2% boost, up from $223.8m in 2018 to $244.4m in 2019, also supported by a strengthened merchant pipeline supplying Government, Education and Retail stakeholders, including good growth from key merchant customers’.

Simon Haslam, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We have achieved strong financial performance during the year, delivering on the strategic priorities and guidance we set out at the time of IPO. We have reported 12.4% revenue and 13.3% underlying EBITDA growth, maintaining our industry-leading margins. 

“Growth across all business lines remains healthy, enabled by our unique competitive position in our markets. I am particularly pleased that we have successfully migrated customers to our new technology platforms. I want to thank my colleagues for the delivery of this transformational project.”

EBITDA grew to $172m, up from $152m in 2018, which reportedly ‘reflects strong revenue performance across both regions and business lines, with corresponding growth in personnel costs, and selling, operating and other expenses’.

While the payments solution provider has seen an increase in the number of transactions and cards hosted, it aims to capitalise on the transition from cash to digital payments across the Middle East.

As explained in the results, Network International Holdings plans to build upon its current agreement with Mastercard: Haslam added: “The Mastercard commercial agreement will further accelerate this and we are excited about the opportunity in Saudi Arabia, which has the potential over time to generate up to 10% of our total revenues, with margins slightly below those of the Group. 

“In order to widen our payments processing services, we will require on-soil presence with a data centre and technology capabilities. We are deploying investment in a phased manner, with a total capital spend of up to USD 25 million, the majority of which will be invested in 2020. This will enable us to serve larger customer mandates from the end of 2021, unlocking incremental revenue and EBITDA streams. 

“In the short term we expect a slight dilution to EBITDA margins, reflecting the investment to grow our position in newer markets, accelerate our separation of shared services from Emirates NBD, and revenue mix.”

Haslam concluded: “We remain excited by the growth opportunities available to our business; through market consolidation, substantial outsourcing contracts, or selective acquisitions. Such opportunities typically require investment and time to develop, but will generate significant incremental returns over the longer term. 

“We have already made excellent progress here, through our Mastercard partnership, and progressing our entry to Saudi Arabia. I look forward to updating shareholders on these initiatives as we move through the year.”