Smartpay’s decision to shift the focus of its business from New Zealand to Australia has started to pay off for the payment terminal operator, with strong growth in its local terminal fleet and solid revenue growth.

In the 12 months to March, group revenue increased 19.7 per cent to A$33.8 million. Australian acquiring transactional revenue was up 80 per cent to $17.1 million.

The Australian terminal fleet grew 46 per cent from 4613 in March last year to 6754 at the end at the end of March this year.

At the end of 2019, the company announced plans to sell its New Zealand business to US payments company Verifone and shift its focus to Australia, where it sees greater opportunity.

The deal fell through but the company remained committed to its strategy of looking for growth in Australia.

The New Zealand contribution fell, with transactional revenue down from $755,000 in 2019/20 to $342,000 in the year to March. New Zealand service revenue fell from $15.1 million to $14.3 million.

Total revenue from the Australian operation was $18.8 million and from New Zealand $16 million.

EBITDA was $7.6 million – an increase of 2.7 per cent over the previous year. But after writing down the value of convertible notes by $12.7 million and higher amortisation costs, the company reported a loss of $14.9 million.

Net cash flow from operating activities increased 33 per cent to $8.6 million.

The company said it has made a big investment in marketing and sales activities in Australia and this resulted in growing customer acquisition through the year. March 2021 was a record month.

Smartpay’s market is the in-store small business payment network. It said it has invested in the “next generation customer interface systems”, digitisation of its terminal management and acquiring platform, and in-store compliance.

It said it is well placed for continued growth.