Finseta’s first-half revenue slipped 8.5% to GBP 5.4 million (about $7.31 million), the AIM-listed payments company said today (Tuesday). Adjusted EBITDA swung to a loss of about GBP 1 million from a GBP 300,000 profit a year earlier.

Active customers rose 26% to 1,389, but the larger base generated less revenue. That extends the earnings pressure reported in Finseta’s 2025 results and leaves the company expecting about GBP 11 million of revenue for 2026, roughly 11% below last year’s total.

Revenue per Customer Falls as Client Count Rises

Revenue per active customer was about GBP 3,888, based on the figures in Tuesday’s update. That is nearly 28% below the roughly GBP 5,359 generated in the first half of 2025.

Finseta attributed the decline to macroeconomic pressure across its main markets, which it said reduced customer demand and lengthened sales cycles. The company had reported 16% revenue growth in the year-earlier period, when active customers reached 1,101.

Corporate accounts generated 74% of revenue, up from 58%, while private clients supplied the remaining 26%. Finseta said the change lifted gross margin to about 66% from 63% even though revenue fell.

The company used 63% as the H1 2025 comparison in Tuesday’s announcement. Its preliminary update last July had put the margin at about 62%.

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The direction was different two years ago. Finseta reported 42% first-half revenue growth in 2024, followed by full-year revenue of GBP 11.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of GBP 2 million.

Dubai Growth Falls Short of Management’s Plan

Dubai revenue increased 243% from a small year-earlier base, but Finseta said the contribution was below its expectations because conflict in the Middle East curtailed activity. It did not disclose Dubai’s revenue in pounds.

The expansion was one of the investments that weighed on earnings during 2025. Finseta also entered Canada and developed corporate banking capabilities as it shifted its business toward corporate customers.

Planned spending on those initiatives, together with the lower revenue, pushed adjusted EBITDA into the red. The company’s adjustment excludes other operating income, share-based compensation, profit from a subsidiary disposal, transaction costs and the rental cost of its corporate premises.

Cash rose to GBP 2.1 million at June 30 from GBP 1.5 million at the end of 2025. Net debt increased to GBP 400,000 from GBP 300,000.

Banking Partner Withdrawal Cuts the Outlook

Finseta now expects second-half revenue to remain broadly level with the first half. That would put the full-year total at about GBP 11 million, below the board’s previous expectations. Tuesday’s update did not state the earlier forecast.

A banking partner withdrew one currency corridor during the past two months, preventing Finseta from serving customers that needed that route. Finseta said it has found a replacement provider and expects the new corridor to become available in the fourth quarter.

Specialist cross-border payment firms depend on banking counterparties to keep individual routes available. Larger corporate-focused peer Alpha Group reported GBP 86.2 million of revenue in the first half of 2025.

Finseta and Equals Group were previously compared as smaller UK payments providers pursuing a greater share of corporate business. Equals was later taken private.

Finseta expects its corporate mix to lift the full-year gross margin from 2025, while costs should remain in line with management’s previous assumptions. The company is due to publish its interim results on September 16.

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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