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FINDI LIMITED (FND) - Revolutionizing Digital Payments: Executive Chairman Nicholas Smedley on Strategic Acquisitions, Financial Inclusion, and Future Growth in India's Fintech Ecosystem
Discover how Findi Limited is reshaping the digital payments landscape in India as we welcome Nicholas Smedley, the Executive Chairman, to ASX Briefs. Ever wondered how a company can expand its reach to over 200,000 locations in a single financial year? Nicholas shares the exciting journey of Findi's strategic acquisitions, including Tata Communications' white-label ATM business and BankIT, and how these moves are set to redefine financial accessibility across India. Get an insider look at the company's approach to financial inclusion and the transformative steps they're taking to educate millions about digital transactions.
Join us as Nicholas delves into Findi's ambitious plans and the impact of their Union Bank of India contract on the company's future growth. Understand how FindiPay is gaining momentum with thousands of new merchants each month and what this means for the company's trajectory. Nicholas also provides his expert insights into the rapidly evolving digital payment ecosystem in India and how Findi is strategically positioning itself to capitalize on these changes. Don't miss this opportunity to grasp the future of fintech in one of the world's most dynamic markets through the lens of a true industry leader.
Welcome to another episode of ASX Briefs, and joining me today is Nicholas Smedley, the Executive Chairman of Findi Limited, an ASX-listed digital payments and financial services provider with a robust presence in India. Findi is revolutionising transaction banking with its flagship platform, findipay, and its strategic expansion into white-label ATMs and merchant networks across the subcontinent. Nicholas, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.
Nicholas Smedley:Thank you very much.
Andrew Musgrave:Now, Nicholas, for investors that may be unfamiliar with Findi, can you just start by giving a brief overview of the company?
Nicholas Smedley:Sure. So Findi is an Indian-based business. All operations are there, we're in every state and territory and we're a fintech and payments business. Across India, we're in excess of 8,000 brown label ATMs, and then we've recently acquired Tata, which will give us another 6,000 white label ATMs, taking us to 14,000 ATMs across every state and territory, and we now have in excess of 50,000 FindiPay locations, which is our digital payments business, and we've recently announced the acquisition of Bankit, which will take our total locations to more than 200,000 by the end of this financial year, in every state and territory.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and the company announced last week a contract with the Union Bank of India for the deployment of 900 ATMs. So what does this mean for Findy's operations and financial outlook?
Nicholas Smedley:For us, it will have little impact for the FY25. This contract will be rolled out in the second half of calendar year 2026. And for us it's over the life of 10 years. It's about a $70-odd million and about a $5 million EBITDA per year added to our forecast from end of 2026 and beyond.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and can you just walk us through the strategic rationale behind the company's recent acquisitions, particularly Bank, it and Tata Communications? White label ATM business.
Nicholas Smedley:Sure. So the first of those that we announced being the Tata Communications white label business that enables us to deploy our own ATMs, own branded ATMs, across India and enables us to be completely independent of the major banks. And it also comes with and we've just received recently Reserve Bank of India approval for that white label license to transfer to us, so that's a significant milestone for us. The second of those two acquisitions is Bankit. Bankit really accelerates our digital payment side of the business. It gives us presence in every state and territory and it comes with about $30-odd million of revenue on that digital side, which takes us to almost 30% of our revenue now derived from digital sources.
Andrew Musgrave:And the rollout of the white label ATMs under the TCPSL acquisition is a significant milestone. So can you just elaborate on how this initiative will enhance financial inclusion and contribute to revenue and EBITDA growth in FY25?
Nicholas Smedley:Yes, so for us it won't contribute to FY25. Fy26 and beyond it'll contribute $30 million plus in revenue and in the order of $10 to $14 million of EBITDA for that year. So that's a great boost to our earnings. It also enables us to accelerate our white label strategy because we have an existing almost 4,800 ATMs deployed under Tata. It also comes with almost 3,000 ATMs in warehouse, so we can accelerate the rollout of those as soon as we get full ownership of this business in the coming month or so.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and looking at Findipay, which has shown impressive growth, acquiring thousands of new merchants each month. So what are the key drivers behind this momentum and how do you plan to sustain that pace?
Nicholas Smedley:Sure, so for us it's all part of our financial inclusion strategy. There's three to 400 million people across India that are not even banked, and then there's another 300 to 400 million that are underbanked, and what Findipay has been able to do is help educate those people as to the benefits of digital transactions, and we've been working with acquiring merchants to deliver that story, which is the 2,000 to 3,000 per month we have been acquiring. We think that that's a pace that we'll be able to maintain for Findipay by itself and with the Bankit acquisition the combined merchant acquisition we'd be hoping that would drive to anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 per month going forward.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and at a more macro level, can you just give us an overview of India's digital payment platform and how it is evolving so rapidly?
Nicholas Smedley:Yeah, and how it is evolving so rapidly. Yeah, so it's coming off a very low base. Cash is still king very much so in India but transaction volumes for digital have been going through the roof and growing exponentially across India. Some six or seven billion transactions on a monthly basis is happening on the digital side, but the value of those transactions is very, very small on the digital side, but the value of those transactions is very, very small. We're working with our team to increase the education of customers on that so we can increase over time the average transaction size on digital and actually use that as our growth driver moving forward, because we see digital as the future, but it's. Over what time period would that become the dominant form of payment? We don't know just yet.
Andrew Musgrave:Yeah, certainly a huge opportunity.
Nicholas Smedley:Very much so.
Andrew Musgrave:Now the IPO of TSI India is an exciting development, so can you provide an update on the progress and how this listing will support FINDU's growth strategy?
Nicholas Smedley:Yes. Well, I'm happy to announce on this that we've just appointed Rothschild's investment bank to start that process for us. They'll be leading the process for us on the ground in India. We've got their global ECM team out of London as well as their head of India as part of that team. We're targeting to be IPO ready by the end of this calendar year, so by the end of 2025, with a target window of early 2026 of actually hitting the boards. And for us we see this is a significant unlocking of value for Australian shareholders. We believe there'll be a significant capital return at the time that we do that IPO and we'll still maintain a 60 to 65% ownership of the business in India, so we'll be the main shareholder and parent company moving forward.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and just looking ahead with FY25 revenue and EBITDA guidance reaffirmed what are some of the key milestones investors can look forward to over the next 12 months.
Nicholas Smedley:For us, it'll be new contract wins above and beyond Union Bank of India. We have a number of opportunities in the pipeline as well as existing contracts being upgraded. And then, beyond that as well, it's now that we have the RBI approval for our white label license. It's the accelerated rollout of our white label ATMs across India on the back of the Tata acquisition.
Andrew Musgrave:All right, nicholas. Well, it's been great to catch up. Obviously, a heap going on with the company and we look forward to further updates in the upcoming months.
Nicholas Smedley:Thank you very much for your time. Pleasure to be here.
Andrew Musgrave:That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.