Cadmus profit rises 12 per cent

Eftpos terminal supplier Cadmus Technology has announced a 12 per cent rise in June year net surplus to $392,000, from $349,000 the year before.

The company said its figure was for the company's core business. Minority interests -- operations which are not wholly owned by Cadmus -- dragged the net after tax surplus down to $334,000, a turnaround from last year's $24,000 loss.

Cadmus said its bottom line was driven by strong revenue and earnings before interest , depreciation and amortisation (ebitda).

Total revenue was up 30 per cent to $25.6 million, compared with $19.7 million for the previous period.

Ebitda was $6.723 million, from $2.83 million last year.

Its operating surplus before tax was $329,000 compared with $230,000.

Chairman Keith Phillips told NZPA that Cadmus' proposed merger with Australian company Intellect Holdings was awaiting a response from Intellect shareholders.

Intellect is clearing legal hurdles and getting an independent assessment to take to shareholders next month.

Managing director Ian Bailey said the year result was validation of the business' growth strategy.

"It is clear that the three segments of the business, being terminals, finance and transactional processing services, all need to reach critical mass as fast as possible to ensure the maximisation of shareholder value," he said.

On the terminal distribution front, Cadmus has acquired the remaining shareholding in Eftpos Connect Ltd and Cadmus Direct (Waikato) to expand sales and distribution.

The acquisitions would result in considerable cost savings to the company.

Cadmus continues to develop the same infrastructure for distribution in the Australian market, had associated itself with the Bank of Bendigo , and signed a strategic partnership with a Singaporean technology company ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) Pte Ltd.

That deal had resulted in a contact to a taxi company with 75 per cent share of the market there.

Mr Bailey said the next stage was increasing terminal volumes to reduce the cost of goods and increase market share globally.

The merger with Intellect was the next logical move, he said.

If shareholders of both companies approve the merger, it would put Cadmus in the top 10 eftpos terminal suppliers worldwide .

Cadmus said it was still on the lookout for more acquisitions . On the financing side, Cadmus has bought the Hanover and Dorchester eftpos rental books, enabling it to negotiate more favourable finance rates.

The transactional processing services arm, while still only a small revenue contributor, was also growing, at a slower pace due to its longer term nature, the company said.

- NZPA