The EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) share price has pushed higher on Monday afternoon following the release of an announcement.
The payments company's shares finished the day over 2% higher at $3.22. This means that EML Payments' shares have now gained an impressive 114% since the start of the year.
What was announced?
This afternoon EML Payments announced that it has received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to acquire the remaining 25.14% minority interest holding in PerfectCard DAC on agreed terms.
The release explains that acquisition of the remaining shareholdings brings its ownership to 100%, making PerfectCard now a wholly owned subsidiary of EML Payments.
The transaction completed on July 25 2019 (Ireland time), with a total consideration payable of €2.9 million (A$4.7 million) in cash.
Management appears to believe that this will be a positive for the company and support margin expansion in the future.
It said: "Since acquiring 74.86% of PerfectCard in July 2018, EML has transitioned the majority of our progams in Europe from our previous sponsor banks to Perfectcard. Included in our guidance announcements were associated one-time costs to exit those sponsor bank agreements and we therefore expect to see self-issuance assist with gross margin expansion in the coming years."
Why has the EML Payments share price more than doubled in value this year?
Investors have been scrambling to get hold of the payments company's shares this year thanks largely to the release of another strong half year result in February.
In addition to this, a series of major customer wins and an earnings accretive acquisition have caught the eye of investors.
The payments industry certainly has been a great place to invest this year. As well as EML Payments more than doubling in value, the shares of both Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) are up 118% and 218%, respectively, year to date.
