Points International Ltd., known for its Points.com website, where consumers can trade, purchase, share, or redeem reward points from participating rewards programs, today announced that it is again raising its 2010 revenue guidance. The company now expects 2010 revenue to be in the US$85 to US$95 million range. Points also reiterated its EBITDA(1) margin guidance range of 3%-5% and net income profitability for the year. The company had earlier increased its 2010 revenue targets to the US$75 – US$85 million range.
Points CEO, Rob MacLean, spoke of the change. “Material improvements in our forecasts have resulted in another increase to our 2010 guidance. Our revised outlook indicates solid growth over 2009 revenue of US$79.8 million. This performance suggests strong leadership and execution by the Points management team. The concentrated efforts put into business development, and in particular into aggressive marketing and merchandising of our products, have begun to deliver very strong results.”
MacLean went on to detail developments driving the increased forecast. “We have worked closely with our largest loyalty partners to create innovative marketing programs that are driving substantial transaction activity. In turn, this activity will drive revenue and profits both for our partners and our company. In fact, transaction activity in the first quarter was up 33 percent from the same period in 2009. This exceeded our expectations, as the number of miles and points transacted correlates positively to ongoing marketing and merchandising efforts in support of our installed products.”
Additional elements given as contributing factors to the strong numbers include:
• the recent launch of the first transfer functionality for a major European partner in British Airways
• the launch last week of new functionality enabling the sale of Delta SkyMiles on points.com
• continued progress in the company’s partnership with Chase Ultimate Rewards – with two new integrations launched in recent weeks
• pending product launches with Alaska Airlines and AirTran Airways
MacLean concluded, “While we are pleased with progress on these measures, specifically with the overall growth we have experienced with some of our larger US-based partners, 2010 EBITDA projections are being negatively impacted by foreign exchange volatility and increased expenses related to this year’s Annual General Meeting. Although these impacts preclude changes to our EBITDA range at this time, we believe there may be further EBITDA upside in 2010 should European currencies in particular rebound from the recent lows versus the US Dollar. A focus on aggressively expanding our revenue footprint, while improving the bottom line results of our business, is setting the stage for exciting growth for all stakeholders.”
The Annual General Meeting is scheduled to take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario, on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. (Toronto Time).
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