This disposal is aligned with our objective of refocusing our activities around the internet and taking our sales worldwide by focusing on our payment services and web content businesses.
We selected a buyer from within the industry who, in view of the potential synergies, was able to offer us the best possible price.
Evanéa/Axido, advised by Alain Wollf of MK Finance (part of the In Extenso group), is an IT services company of a similar size to Apogéa.
Apogéa was valued at €3.7 million, and BD Multimedia received €3,429,900 in cash for its 92.7% stake.
We now have a cash holding of €5 million, as well as unused factoring facilities worth €5 million. This means we are in a position to examine any profitable growth opportunities that might arise and improve the valuation of our shares.
Payment services:
Revenue declined in H2 2012 as a result of our dropping a large number of clients as the request of telecoms operators.
While this meant we lost 50% of our traffic, it also resulted in our gross margin increasing from 17% to 23%.
New client registrations continue apace, and revenue is once again growing.Our new international PayDuo service, developed by BD Multimedia HK, will be launched on February 25 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Our plan is to structure and intensify our sales efforts, with the priority on China and Asia. We also intend to provide new payment aggregation methods for Southern and Central America.To help us reach the next level in terms of the efficiency, speed and quality of our products and sites, we are continuing to improve and perfect our organizational structure: our aim is to maintain flexibility and increase power and efficiency while keeping tight control over project development. To this end, we will be recruiting highly skilled people from an international background who are immersed in web culture.
Daniel Dorra, Chairman and CEO of BD Multimedia, commented:
"Strengthening our production capability and boosting our marketing activities are priorities for us. I believe the key to success lies in delivering projects quickly and well, as well as properly analyzing their performance."
About StarPass and BD Multimedia
StarPass is a fully integrated payment service that offers online merchants selling virtual goods and services the ability to monetize their content using a single solution with no installation costs or recurring fees.
StarPass is operated by BD Multimedia, a pioneer in premium and value-added services since 1986 and an expert in telecoms solutions.
BD Multimedia is listed on the Alternext market of the Paris Stock Exchange.
(ISIN code: FR0000035305/ALBDM) |
Reminder of last press release dated September 28, 2012:
"H1 2012 operating profit up 53%"
