“We are fortunate to have had a full period where our customers and therefore Smartpay has not been impacted by lockdowns and the associated trading restrictions which is pleasing and a contributor to this strong result,” the company said.
Transacting terminals had increased to 12,546 after the addition of over 2,800 transacting terminals in the six months.
An EBITDA increase of 119 per cent year-on-year reflected the growth in revenue, together with the scalable nature of the operations.
Total transaction value (TTV) of $2.3b over the six months was an increase of 132 per cent over the prior comparable period.
Looking ahead, Smartpay remained focused on executing its strategic opportunity in Australia and continuing to invest.
“With the continuing momentum and indeed acceleration we have seen in the first half of 2023, we look forward to a strong second half performance for the 2023 year,” the company said.
Third Age profit falls
Primary care provider, Third Age Health, said its net earnings after tax fell by 51.8 per cent to $0.3m in the first half, but the company took issue with the accounting used to reach that figure.
Third age said it was able to successfully execute a growth strategy, while at the same time ensuring that its underlying work within the aged care sector increased.
“The growth strategy has, however, come at a cost through the direct and indirect costs of both acquiring and consolidating business units, and this is acutely felt in the first half of this year,” the company said.
Third Age said it was a disappointment to not yet see these improvements reflected in net earnings.
Three factors led to the fall.
“First, we needed to front-load resources to bolster capabilities and infrastructure that was not previously in place but was needed to protect existing business and provide a platform from which to grow sustainably and profitably.
“Second, the integration of the practices acquired this year was slower than planned which contributed to lower earnings. In addition, there were one-off legal and acquisition-related costs incurred of $50,000.
“The third factor is that reported net earnings were impacted by an increase in the amount of non-cash amortisation charges arising as a result of purchase accounting rules.”
Amortisation charges are taken to reflect the decrease in value of intangible assets recognised when new businesses are acquired.
“While appropriate in some cases, the concept of recognising these charges against intangibles such as patient relationships and funding agreements does not, in our opinion reflect economic reality,” Third Age said.
Third Age said aged care is undergoing a challenging period.
“The well-acknowledged health workforce crisis, which has been compounded by the slow border openings and immigration settings, combined with lower than needed funding outcomes for aged care providers, continues to impact the sector,” it said.
Despite these short-to-medium-term sector challenges, the longer-term outlook for the business remained positive.
The company declared a 2.45 cents per share dividend.
