UK independent ATM operator Cashbox has posted higher full year pre-tax losses but the troubled company has received some good news - securing £1 million in funding from MBC Investments.
Cashbox made a loss of £6.74 million for the year to end-June, up from £3.64 million for the previous 12 months but the firm says it expects to break even during the course of 2008.
The company says that the rise in losses is largely due to increased administrative costs, which went up to £5.09 million from £3.13 million, and expenses relating to lease termination. Turnover increased from £3.16 million to £4.38 million with the firm installing 1442 machines compared to 1058 the previous year.
Meanwhile, the firm says it has secured funding from MBC Investments which is to be provided in two tranches. The first tranche is a convertible unsecured loan, available immediately, for the sum of £583,788. The second is a non-convertible unsecured loan of £416,212 which is available for draw down from 31 March 2008.
The loans have been arranged in conjunction with a rescheduling of the company's Bank of Scotland facility. This £8 million facility will be cut to £6 million with the drawdown period extended from March to December 2008. The debt repayment, originally agreed to start in March 2008, has been rescheduled to begin in December 2009.
Cashbox has had a difficult year with the company recently agreeing to pay £1.8m to settle a litigation brought by Hanco, the cash machine vendor owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland. This followed the sacking of founder and CEO Carl Thomas after an investigation into his share dealings in the wake of a bid approach for the firm.
John Maples, chairman, Cashbox, says: "The dismissal of the founder and former CEO, Carl Thomas, has meant that the company has had to meet an unanticipated challenge. Further, it was necessary to change funding providers, resulting in delays in the installation of ATMs across our estate. This has meant that the company has gone through a challenging year to say the least."