18 September 2014

MONITISE plc

Visa Inc. to assess investment stake in Monitise

LONDON - Monitise plc (LSE: MONI) confirms that Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has announced the appointment of JP Morgan to ‎assist in the undertaking of an assessment of Visa's Inc. investment stake in the Group.

Visa Inc. has stated that its assessment is "consistent with Visa's investment practice to seed emerging players and, over time, taper that influence as the partner company grows."

Visa Inc.'s ongoing alliance agreement with Monitise dates back to 2009 when the UK-based Mobile Money business was a much smaller company.

"Visa Inc. has been a huge support in helping Monitise develop and grow into the world's leading independent Mobile Money company," said Alastair Lukies, joint CEO and founder of Monitise. "When Visa Inc. ‎first invested we were a company of around 80 people with revenue of less than £3m and a primary focus on mobile banking. Today, Monitise is a global, agnostic and interoperable Mobile Money network of unique scale and capability. We are honoured to have our ongoing alliance with Visa as we continue to develop and expand our global network." 

Visa Inc.'s disclosed shareholding is a 5.5% stake in Monitise.

Monitise continues its alliance with Visa Inc. and reiterates it guidance for this financial year, its expectation to be EBITDA profitable in FY 2016 and its longer-term guidance for 2018. The group's latest full-year results were published on 15 September 2014.

About Monitise

Monitise (LSE: MONI) is a world leader in Mobile Money - banking, paying and buying with a mobile device. Leading banks, payments companies, retailers and mobile networks utilise Monitise's technology platforms and services to securely connect people with their money.

More than 30 million users have registered for Monitise's patented technology to 'bank anywhere', 'pay anyone' and 'buy anything', accounting for $88bn of payments, purchases and transfers annually. Additionally, apps designed by the Group's Monitise Create and MEA divisions have been downloaded 30 million times. More information is available at www.monitise.com.