The Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX: TYR) share price is pushing higher in morning trade on Thursday.
At the time of writing the payments company's shares are up 4% to $4.52 following the release of its half year results.
How did Tyro perform in the first half?
During the first half of FY 2020, Tyro reported a record $11.1 billion in transactions processed and revenues of $117.3 million. This was a 30% and 29% increase, respectively, over the prior corresponding period.
The company's strong growth was driven by a 23% increase in merchant numbers to 32,450 and organic growth in transaction value from its existing merchants' businesses.
At the end of the period, Tyro was Australia's 5th largest merchant acquiring bank by terminal count. It now has 58,993 terminals on its network, up 26% on the prior corresponding period. This means it is behind only Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and the rest of the big four banks.
Another positive was that the company was EBITDA positive. It achieved EBITDA of $1.5 million during the half, up from a loss of $3 million a year earlier. On the bottom line the company recorded a pro forma loss after tax of $9 million.
At the end of the period the company's balance sheet was very strong. It has $171.1 million in cash and financial investments available for future growth.
Strong momentum.
Tyro's CEO and Managing Director, Robbie Cook, was very pleased with the half.
He said: "This is a great result all round for our first half as a listed company. We saw strong momentum in the business driving an all-time high $11.1 billion in transaction volumes with more than 32,000 merchants now trusting Tyro with their payments needs."
Mr Cook appears confident on the future, noting that its offering was gaining transaction with merchants.
He added: "With close to 59,000 terminals now in the field, we are the fifth largest merchant acquiring bank in the market with the big four holding the top slots. We are gaining traction by providing functionality and features that merchants want. Features such as being the first bank to provide our merchants cost savings available from least cost routing, being first to market with a fully integrated Alipay solution, and providing eCommerce payments to simplify the day-to-day for merchants by providing a seamless in-store and online transaction solution with the one provider."
Outlook.
The first month's trading in the second half has continued the positive trends delivered in the first.
For the seven months to January 31, transaction value was up 29% on the prior corresponding period to $12.9 billion and payments revenue was up 28% to $132.7 million.
This means the company is on track to deliver on its FY 2020 pro forma prospectus forecast.
