Retail payments firm PayPoint (LON: PAY) has completed an £83 million acquisition of Appreciate Group, a gifting and engagement platform. Announced on Thursday, PayPoint acquired the entire issued share capital of Appreciate Group.

PayPoints Completes Appreciate Group Acquisition

The completion came after the board of the two companies agreed to the deal in November. As a part of the deal, the entire team at Appreciate Group joined PayPoint. Julian Coghlan, the former Interim CEO of the Appreciate Group, has joined the Executive Board of PayPoint and will continue to head Appreciate as its Managing Director.

"Work on integration is already underway, with an immediate focus on organizational alignment, building on the strong momentum in both businesses and unlocking commercial revenue enhancements," said the CEO of PayPoint, Nick Wiles.

The acquisition came after PayPoint sold its Romanian operations in 2020 for around £47 million on a debt-free cash-free basis. At that time, the company highlighted its priorities in the key UK market and even revealed plans to use the proceeds for acquisitions within the UK.

A Strategic Acquisition

The latest deal was very strategic for PayPoint. Appreciate Group's offerings and its brand partners will provide PayPoint with "significant headroom for growth" in the consumer and corporate gifting markets within the United Kingdom.

"The acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing in FY24, and the Board believes it will deliver attractive returns for shareholders, with the enlarged Group targeting further growth in three broad areas: prepayment saving through Park Christmas Savings to support customers with budgeting tools for Christmas and other events; an enlarged full-service offering for gifting, employee rewards and benefits to Appreciate Group's corporate clients; and an extended consumer gifting network for the Love2shop brand," Wiles added.

Despite the possibilities in business, PayPoint shares failed to recover from the continued downward momentum in the past six months. The stock lost almost 24 percent during that period.

Meanwhile, PayPoint applied for the admission of its shares into a premium listing segment of the Financial Conduct Authority's official list and to trade on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.