In the dark at Bill Express

The real revenues of Bill Express are not spelled out in the 2007 financial statements.

A rise of 30 per cent to $1.0 billion is what's reported, and given they sell phone cards mainly and they have a face value of most of this, then the cards plus some other revenue may equal a bill.

It's a funny number to use - it is their commission they need to explain.

Raw materials and consumables used are said to be $952 million. This is mostly the revenue that isn't plus the actual expenses, whatever they are.

EBITDA is $32 million in 2007, up from $25 million in 2006.

Net profit, though, fell to $5.2 million from $6.3 million. There is no dividend.

Segment reporting is slight.

"The core Bill Express division generated an operating profit before tax of $3.02 million while the media division generated a trading profit before tax of $41,515 for the year ended 30 June 2007.  The Bopo prepaid cards division generated an operating profit before tax of $3.83 million.

"The group operates predominantly in Australia.  Accordingly no geographical segment information is relevant for the group."

The number of bill payment terminals grew by 1000 to 4700 and the number of DialTime phone payment terminals fell 200 to 14,000. Average revenue per terminal increased to $72,000 from $55,000.