OzForex's good result marred by sloppy reporting
The international payment services company OzForex has failed to meet its obligations for reporting non-statutory financial information in its first financial report since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange last month. The company's report for the six months to September, which was released yesterday, does not comply with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's requirement that IFRS and non-IFRS financial information be given equal prominence.Neither OzForex's media release nor analysts' presentation material gave any explanation regarding a A$26.5 million adjustment to income that resulted in the company's net operating income being re-stated from $61.6 million in the statutory (IFRS) report to $35.1 million in the pro-forma (non-IFRS) report.The adjustment, which was related to the cost of its initial public offering, is explained in the financial report. But that is not good enough.A key requirement in ASIC's regulatory guide, RG 230, is that IFRS and non-IFRS financial information be given equal prominence in all documents a company uses in briefings for investors, analysts and the media. OzForex failed to do this.Another requirement is that, where financial ratios are presented on a non-IFRS basis, equal prominence should be given to ratios calculated on an IFRS basis. Again, OzForex failed to do this.RG 230 says: "There is a risk that non-IFRS financial information will be misleading unless it is appropriately presented and explained."As to the result, OzForex reported that revenue and earnings were ahead of its prospectus' forecasts.Pro-forma net profit was $9.6 million - seven per cent higher than the prospectus had forecast. Net profit was 14 per cent higher than in the previous corresponding period.The company has 107,000 active clients - up from 82,700 at the same time last year. It was not all good news, however. New client numbers were down three per cent on those the prospectus had forecast, and transaction volumes were down two per cent.More than half the company's income was generated in Australia and New Zealand.Growth came from the company's increased "licensing footprint" in the United States. The number of states in which it operates has grown from 16 to 32 over the past 12 months.Growth also came from the launch of services in partnership with Travelex and MoneyGram.