CIRTEK HOLDINGS Philippines Corp. expects MultiPay to contribute P500 million to revenues in 2018, after its acquisition of a 49% stake in the payment solutions provider last year that marked its first major investment in software development.

“I think close to P500 million (in revenues). We’re very optimistic as we see more products go into the market, then we should see a very significant contribution. We expect a very quick growth for MultiPay,” Cirtek Chief Financial Officer Anthony S. Buyawe told reporters at the sidelines of Cirtek’s press briefing in Makati City on Wednesday.

The listed firm, known for delivering hardware components for electronic products, announced its acquisition of MultiPay in December 2017, paying P100 million for the transaction.

Cirtek noted this is only the initial investment in the company, as it will be pouring in more funds in the future to support hardware development and other projects.

MultiPay provides back-end, front-end system platforms, end-to-end payment solutions, and e-commerce system integrations to over 30,000 payment channels worldwide. The company is the exclusive technological partner of payment systems like BayadCenter with over 12,000 outlets nationwide, EasyPay with around 10,000, and DragonPay.

“We integrate all of them into one single gateway so we can easily plug and play our system, and they can be easily used by our clients,” MultiPay Chief Executive Officer and Chairman David L. Almirol, Jr. told reporters during the same event.

“Since most of the other end users, they’re having a hard time integrating a system to all of them, they need to create not only integrations but connections, including the structure for deposits and remittances… We made it easy for them to integrate their technology,” he added.

Asked how MultiPay will achieve synergies with Cirtek’s operations, Cirtek President Roberto Juancho T. Dispo said hardware systems would be improved to facilitate faster connectivity in payment centers.

“It’s the vertical integration where our hardware technology, which consists of producing POS (point of sales). We manufacture credit swipers, we manufacture radios that can read barcodes, and we have wireless radio that can improve the connectivity of different payment outlets in the country,” Mr. Dispo explained.

This acquisition would also enable the company to take a slice of the booming e-commerce industry in the Philippines, specifically with bill payments and online money transfers which are expected to grow to $10.6 billion by 2020, from just $4.1 billion in 2016.

“The entry of Cirtek will provide MultiPay with the financial wherewithal to take advantage of the still many low-hanging fruits in the Philippines electronic commerce space as well as replicated our success in the local market in other countries in Southeast Asia,” Mr. Almirol said.

The company recorded a 25% increase in revenues during the first nine months of 2017 to $67.9 million. Net income attributable to the parent rose 154% to $2.95 million during the January to September period.

Shares in Cirtek rose 50 centavos or 0.9% to close at P56 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

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