iCash ATMs stand silent

ATMs operated by iCash Payments are handling only a dozen or so transactions a day, commentary published along with the company's full-year profit, released yesterday, shows.

This low daily average does not appear to faze the firm or its merchant customers, given the renewal rate cited in the profit release of 90 per cent for ATMs operated by the firm.

It was also sufficient to generate 5.8 million ATM transactions over the year and revenues for the Australian operations of $14 million. iCash said it earned a pre-tax profit from this activity of $1.7 million, though this does not allow for GST owing, and classified as a "contingent liability" of $500,000.

The number of automatic teller machines "under management" by the firm increased to 1330 from 610 over the year.

At a group level iCash Payments said its net profit increased to $4.6 million in 2010 from $2.8 million in 2009. The firm said it expected a "substantial increase" in profit in 2011.
 
The bulk of its assets and revenue relates to its ATM manufacturing business in South Korea.

iCash bought the remnants of Pulse International in early 2010 from Sherman Group. iCash paid $4.0 million, though Sherman reinvested more than a third of that in new shares in the firm.