Thursday, July 30th, 2020
Payments provider USA Technologies Inc. (USAT) is set for a new management era after a proxy battle that overthrew the old administration and board of directors.
The rejuvenated company now plans to grow its bottom-line by exploiting underserved markets and cutting on operational costs.
“Having won the proxy contest and with our restructured senior team, the firm is re-energized and digging in,” said new CEO Sean Feeney in a forum for 2020 Q3 financial result on Mar 31.
Feeney, who’s been serving in the software niche for three decades, took office in June. The ex-Army official was also the CEO of DefenseStorm Inc., a cyber-safety service for financial companies.
The executive now leads a freshly appointed board of directors (BOD) supported by Hudson Executive Capital, the bond-fund that’s USAT’s biggest stockholder and now forced to take over the firm’s governance following allegations of mismanagement and accounting issues.
The new BOD is chaired by Doug Bergeron, the ex-boss of payment hardware manufacturer Verifone Inc.
Mistakes of the Past and Feeney Strategy
Feeney has some catching up to do (from the previous admin’s shortcomings) and huge plans for USAT.
According to him, the company has long concentrated much of its resources on growing its payment network while ignoring other markets.
In a bid to change that, Feeney has already restructured the payment firm into three segments
He also cited that the USAT has over-relied on costly lawyers and mentors, a move which ate up into its finances and promised to fix the matter.
Feeney also mentioned that the 2017 takeover deal of competitor rival Cantaloupe Systems Inc. was a promising strategy that USAT failed top to seize. Cantaloupe runs a Seed Cloud platform that half of USAT clients rely on.
And tasks don’t end there. Next, USA Technologies, which is presently trading shares over the counter, is also trying to get back to Nasdaq’s list.
USAT reported revenue worth an entire $43.1 million, up 14 percent YOY, but this represents a dip worth $9.6 million put side by side with $4.6 million in 2019’s fiscal Q3.
Final Words
Feeney predicts a bright future for USAT, which is now desperate to get back on its feet. Hopefully, his new board of directors is geared up for the task ahead.