Monitise fails to find buyer, founder steps down but partners remain supportive

25th Mar 2015 09:12

Mobile money innovator Monitise has failed to find a buyer as part of its strategic review, with Elizabeth Buse to lead the group as chief executive as founder and joint-chief executive Alistair Lukies steps down.Buse, a former European executive vice president at Visa, will be joined on the board by Telefónica executive Stephen Shurrock, who has been appointed as a non-executive director to represent the strategic interests of shareholders Telefónica and Santander.The Spanish companies have partnerships with cash-rich Monitise, having alongside MasterCard invested £49.2m in the company's shares last November.Monitise management said it had received "a number" of expressions of interest from various parties as part of the review but no agreement could be made on valuation, with Monitise more optimistic about its prospects as a standalone company with partnerships with strategic investors, channel partners and clients such as Santander, MasterCard, IBM, Visa Europe, and RBS among others.Buse reiterated guidance for full year revenue of £90m-3100m and EBITDA losses of £40m-£50m, before hitting profitability in 2016.She said that in addition to revenue growth, management continue to expect second-half operating and capital expenses this year will be "materially lower" than the first half, with a further improvement in 2016.Santander issued a statement alongside its AIM-listed partner saying it believed Monitise was "uniquely well positioned as an independent player in the fast-growing digital money space. We have already through our partnership with Monitise developed some market-leading propositions for our customers and intend to continue doing so through what we expect to be a long and mutually beneficial collaboration".The Spanish bank's partnership with Monitise has looked to develop an "accelerated pipeline of opportunities" and build new mobile money capabilities for Santander.Likewise, Telefónica has been looking to developing new products and services using Monitise's technology, having recently finalised an agreement to further such cooperation with two country roll-outs in Latin-America during 2015, including Brazil.However, despite the support of its major partners, by midday on Wednesday shares in Monitise, which in early 2014 topped out above 80p, were down 16% to 15.19p.