On the heels of a March announcement that NEOVIA CEO Ron Martin was departing the company for “family reasons,” the parent company of Neteller announced that his final day in office will be May 31st. Chairman of the Board Dale Johnson will then head NEOVIA until a permanent successor can be found.
On the search for a new executive, a statement made by NEOVIA to the London Stock exchange read, “The Board has commenced a process to select a new Group Chief Executive Officer and good progress is being made in this regard.” In the meantime, Executive Vice President Dan Starr and Chief Financial Officer Doug Terry will assist Johnson while the group finds Martin’s replacement. The interim CEO commented in a press release, “On behalf of the Board and management team, I would like to thank Ron for his significant contribution to the Group over four challenging years. In the current challenging market conditions, the Board and management team are focused on maximizing revenues in the short-term, maintaining control over costs, and preserving cash to deliver value for all shareholders.” No timeline has been given as to when the search for a new CEO will be completed.
In October, Neteller Plc announced that it would forever be known as NEOVIA Financial Plc after an approval by the company’s shareholders. The company was formerly traded in London under the symbol “NLR” and can now be found under “NEO.” In trading on the London Stock exchange on Friday, shares of NEO closed up ₤0.75 to an even ₤45.00. Over the past 52 weeks, NEOVIA’s stock has traded in a wide range between ₤34.00 and ₤72.50 with an average volume of 430,000 shares. Neteller remains one of NEOVIA’s brands and is used by several online poker rooms for taking deposits players from outside of the United States.
Highlighting NEOVIA’s financial transactions on Thursday was news that Franklin Templeton Investments held over five million ordinary shares, or 4.18% of the shares outstanding. A trade of 40,000 shares was entered on Friday at a price of ₤45.21. NEOVIA has a total of 119 million shares available. Shareholders are now invited to head to the Isle of Man for the company’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held at the Claremont Hotel in Douglas on June 17th.
In 2008, NEOVIA reported revenues of $75.6 million, which was up 9% from the $69.1 million that the company saw in 2007. “Fee revenue” weighed in at $69.5 million, up a hefty 26% from 2007’s tally of $55.6 million. NEOVIA posted a profit before tax of $6.4 million in 2008, up significantly from 2007, when it incurred a loss of $12.8 million. The number of e-wallet users was 97,673 during the fourth quarter of 2008, down slightly from the final quarter of 2007, when the number of e-wallets was 99,984. Average daily signups (981 in 2008) were comparable year over year. Average daily receipts were down substantially in 2008 from 2007. During that time span, the financial indicator dropped from $656,000 to $457,000.
In October of 2008, NEOVIA launched the Net+ card to e-wallet customers. In addition, the company touted “enhanced core e-wallet functionality in 2008 for customer and merchant improvements.” The company also hinted that it will roll out Newteller, its “new business platform,” during the third quarter of 2009. Its major stakeholders include IIU Nominees Limited, which owns 26.03% of shares outstanding. UBS and Fidelity own 4.30% and 4.99%, respectively, while Standard Life Investments Limited owns 6.99% of shares. NEOVIA is based in the Isle of Man and also has offices in Cambridge (United Kingdom), Calgary (Canada), Macau, and Hong Kong.
