Despite reporting processing volume increases for the ninth consecutive quarter, a Dublin-based e-commerce payments firm that processes online payments for Ikea and Finnair has reported a 24pc decrease in its latest revenues.
Dublin-headquartered FreeStar Technology reported that revenues for the quarter ended 30 September fell 24pc to US$461,860 from US$602,748 last year.
This is despite the fact that there was a 12pc increase in activity during the quarter as the total number of e-commerce transactions rose to 4.9m transactions compared to 4.2m a year ago.
The company’s net loss was US$2.4m, an increase of 164pc (US$1.5m) compared to a net loss of US$937,030 last year.
FreeStar, which was established by Dublin brothers Paul and Ciaran Egan, began life with headquarters in the Dominican Republic before relocating to Dublin earlier this year. Paul Egan is the company’s CEO while Ciaran Egan is its chief financial officer.
The company is responsible for processing more than US$200m worth of e-commerce transactions a year, averaging out a 1.5m transactions a quarter.
Commenting on the quarter’s results Ciaran Egan said: “Our decrease in sales from the comparable quarter of the year was due primarily to US$130,668 in development and consulting services which we generated during the prior year; we had no such revenue in the current period. Our core processing business continues to show strong results.”
He said that the losses were made up of non-cash components, consisting of non-cash compensation. The purpose of this he added was to conserve cash and act as an incentive to build shareholder value. “We also kept our balance sheet free of long-term debt, and sold common stock during the quarter for proceeds of US$1.6m.”
A graduate of Terenure College Dublin, Paul Egan was vice-president of Inter-Leisure in South Africa before founding ePayLatina. He also worked with South African firm Engen to oversee its new project division after it acquired Mobil Oil South Africa. Prior to this Egan was employed by Trafalgar House Construction division, working on major building projects in the London banking district.
CFO Ciaran Egan, also a graduate of Terenure College as well as Rathmines College of Commerce, was previously managing director of Medipro International Recruitment in South Africa where he was responsible for establishing new markets in Ireland and the UK and was successful in obtaining contracts with the Ministry of Defense and Aviation in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He also implemented contracts with the National Health Service in the UK.
By John Kennedy
