Electronic payments firm Alphyra had earnings of €31.3million last year, up 83 per cent from €17.1 million in 2004, as revenue rose sharply. The company had gross revenue of more than €2.8 billion last year, up 43 per cent from just under €2 billion in 2004, according to new accounts. John Williamson, the finance director of Alphyra, said the company had ‘‘a great year’’ in 2005 and was on track to increase turnover and earnings by up to 20 per cent this year. While earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) were €31.3 million, Alphyra reported a pre-tax loss of €15.2 million after writing off goodwill and taking charges relating to acquisitions. The company spent €136 million buying companies in Ireland, Spain and Germany last year. Williamson would not comment on what Alphyra was worth now, but said that some of the company’s peers were valued at between 15 and 20 times Ebitda.

That would place a valuation of between €470 million and €626 million on Alphyra, based on last year’s Ebitda of €31.3 million. Williamson said the exceptional charges in the accounts reflected the cost of integrating the acquisitions, restructuring and refinancing Alphyra and the costs of investigating a number of acquisitions that did not materialise. Alphyra also wrote down the value of its non-core ITG Payphones business in Britain, which it sold in the fourth quarter of last year to a US firm. Williamson said Alphyra had funded the acquisitions through a mixture of cash and debt. He said he was ‘‘very comfortable’’ with the company’s net debt, which stood at more than €140 million at the end of last year. Alphyra had almost €28 million in cash at the end of last year and had a very strong cashflow, Williamson said. Alphyra operates in 19 countries and has about 150,000 payment terminals that are used by customers to top up their mobile phones, pay bills, and load credit onto gift vouchers.

Williamson said the company would continue to build its network of terminals and was interested in more acquisitions, including ‘‘in-fill’’ acquisitions in countries where it already operates. Alphyra was quoted on the Dublin and London stock exchanges until 2003, when it was taken private in a management buyout that valued the company at €88 million. Benchmark Capital, the venture capital firm that backed the buyout, owns 63 per cent of Alphyra, according to the accounts. The remainder is held by management and staff led by chief executive John Nagle. Williamson said the company had looked at the possibility of taking a stock market listing last year, but had decided it was ‘‘not right’’ for the company. ‘‘Alphyra was successful as a public company, but is much more successful as a private company,” he said.

The firm was also linked to a trade sale, but Williamson said there was no deal on the horizon. ‘‘Our preference is to continue on our own for now and the foreseeable future,” he said. ‘‘Our growth story and underlying trading are very good, we are throwing off cash and building our global footprint.” While more than €580 million of last year’s turnover came from acquisitions, all growth this year will be organic, according to Williamson. ‘‘If you look at our performance after the acquisitions in 2005 on an annualised basis, our revenue is €3.3 billion or €3.4 billion,” he said. ‘‘We will continue to roll out and grow the business with the support of Benchmark.” Alphyra employs almost 700 people worldwide, and staff costs last year were €27 million. The five directors of the company shared almost €1.9 million in remuneration last year, double the 2004 figure of €941,000. The directors are Nagle, Williamson, chief operating officer Tim Murphy, non-executive director Tim Bunting and chairman Barry Maloney, who is a partner in Benchmark Capital.