PayPoint’s network has grown from 29,149 sites to 30,151 partnered stores. This comes as the firm invests heavily in its parcel service, and to offset “disappointing” ATM performance.

The figure, which independent stores account for 70% of, was revealed in the firm’s results for the six months ending 30 September, 2024. PayPoint’s results also highlighted net revenue from service fees rose by 10.3% to £10.7m during the period. Parcel transactions grew by 47% to 61.9m.

Overall, PayPoint’s Collect+ network rose to 13,421 sites, up from 11,786 at the end of March.

The firm said: “Royal Mail now live in over 5,000 sites, with plans to expand to further sites, along with major national marketing campaign launched in October 2024 to drive consumer awareness and volume into the Collect+ network.

“Our strategic investment in Yodel, alongside other investors, strengthens their position as a key ‘last mile carrier’ in the UK and supports the accelerating consumer adoption of Out of Home delivery, with the prospect of increased parcel volumes and further Collect+ network growth.”

PayPoint has also been in talks with Chinese and South Asian online retailers Shein, Temu and Ali Express to potentially offer a pick up and returns service in partnered stores for their products.

PayPoint outlines plan to improve ATM performance

Meanwhile, PayPoint described its ATM performance as “disappointing” and stressed it had a recovery plan underway for improvement. This includes “the launch of an improved support and maintenance model with Notemachine to drive ATM uptime and service, individual site performance optimisation visits and further network expansion opportunities in progress with new partners.”

“Our Counter Cash service, offering withdrawals and balance enquiries over the counter, is now live in 3,138 locations, and we have processed over £216 million of consumer deposits for our neobank clients in the year.

“We are now in active planning with one to two major high street banks regarding how we support their customers with cash access for consumer and SME deposits and withdrawals across our extensive network, with an initial test phase planned for early 2025.”

Other support for retailers includes enhanced terminal messaging, training and support, targeted field team visits and the rollout of a chatbot to answer queries.

PayPoint CEO Nick Wiles said: “This has been a strong half year for PayPoint where we have delivered a positive financial performance and made further progress towards our medium-term target of delivering £100m underlying EBITDA by the end of FY26.

“The strategic investments made in Yodel and Obconnect strengthen two core areas of our business, enhancing future growth and opportunities in parcels and Open Banking. The resilience of our businesses combined with the growing opportunities to deliver value-add solutions to our clients, continue to underline our confidence in building further momentum in our key growth building blocks.”

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