Realex Payments sees 6% rise in profit

IRISH ONLINE payments processing company Realex Payments generated a turnover of €6.47 million in the year ending April 2009, an increase of 12 per cent over 2008, reflecting the expansion of the online market despite weak consumer spending globally.

According to its financial statements, the Dublin-based firm posted a 6 per cent annual increase in pretax profits, reaching €721,000 and leaving Realex Payments with more than €2.5 million of accumulated profits.

Based in Monkstown, Co Dublin, Realex provides online payment-processing services to a global client base from simple plug-in applications for small businesses to bespoke payment suites for multi-national corporations. The company employs 70 people in Dublin, London and Paris.

About 3,500 businesses, most of which are small and medium enterprises, use Realex for online processing. However, the company also counts Virgin Atlantic, Vodafone and Aer Lingus among its customers, and these corporations continue to generate high volumes of transactions and significant revenue for the company.

To date this year Realex has processed over €6 billion in transactions, with the company recording €726 million in payments in September alone. September is traditionally a busy month for online processing as activity is buoyed by third-level students paying college fees online.

Founder and chief executive Colm Lyon said: “We are delighted to announce such strong year-end results. It’s a real testament to the hard work of the team, and it has established us as a serious player in the international payment-processing market. Winning clients like Virgin Atlantic is a significant business achievement. We have continued to see strong growth in terms of customer acquisition, which is an excellent result in the current climate.”

Realex has also been the recipient of €248,000 in grants from Enterprise Ireland over the past two years, which Mr Lyon said had been instrumental in driving growth at the company.

Announcing that the company is seeking to recruit a further 15 people, Mr Lyon said it would continue to focus on global expansion and securing new business.