SeeThruEquity Issues Company Update on Net Element, Highlighting PayOnline Acquisition

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 26, 2015 / SeeThruEquity, a leading independent equity research and corporate access firm focused on smallcap and microcap public companies, today announced that it has issued a company update on Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE).

The note is available here: NETE Update Note. SeeThruEquity is an approved equity research contributor on Thomson First Call, Capital IQ, FactSet, and Zack’s. The report will also be available on these platforms. We also contribute our estimates to Thomson Estimates, the leading estimates platform on Wall Street.

“We see the acquisition of PayOnline as strategic for Net Elements, as the company already has a strong presence in Russia, CIS, Europe and Asia and all representing attractive markets with significant growth potential for online and mobile payments. Russia, for example, is the 6th largest global market for online payments, according to McKinsey & Company, accounting for $50Bn in payments annually. The country has several attractive growth characteristics, with ecommerce growing at a 22% annual rate and a long runway for potential growth, with only 43% of the Russian population using the Internet. We are reiterating our raising our 12 month price target on NETE of $5.17 per share,” stated Ajay Tandon, CEO of SeeThruEquity.

Additional highlights of the note are as follows:

PayOnline acquisition a strategic move for Net Element

– The acquisition of PayOnline is a strategic move that significantly expands Net Element’s scale, product offerings and international presence. PayOnline operates a proprietary integrated platform of payment solutions that supports over 10mn active consumers and thousands of merchants in the Russian Federation, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe and Asia. PayOnline is an online payment leader in Russia, which McKinsey & Company estimates is the 6th largest payments market globally, accounting for $50Bn in payments. PayOnline is estimated to hold a 30% share of the online payments segment, and appears to be an attractive addition to the company’s TOT Money and Unified Payments businesses, allowing a best in class solution that covers all methods of online and mobile payment in Russia. We estimate PayOnline processes approximately $100mn in online payments per year, generating roughly $3.5mn in revenue, with positive net income.

PayOnline acquisition adds to momentum in Russian Federation, Europe and Asia

– The PayOnline acquisition is the latest in a series of positive announcements for Net Element’s TOT Group subsidiary in the region. TOT Money, a TOT Group company, is an industry leader in the growing mobile payments market in Russia, where it has achieved 10% market share and has been one of the top three mobile payments provider for the last two years, according to research from Russian leading mobile operator Vimpelcom. The company has relationships with the top three mobile operators in Russia and reached a crucial milestone by exceeding 1mn recurring mobile payment subscribers in January. In fact TOT Money achieved 10% market share in Russia while generating double-digit, quarter-over-quarter subscriber throughout 2014. 

– We believe Net Element is rightly investing its resources in this strategic market where robust growth is expected for the foreseeable future and the company commands a strong competitive position. Net Element further increased the resources available to TOT Money in November, by entering into a financing agreement with Bank Otkritie Financial Corp, one of Russia’s largest private banks, to provide approximately $4mn in accounts receivable financing.

Please review important disclosures on our website at www.seethruequity.com. 

About Net Element, Inc.

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) is a global financial technology-driven company specializing in mobile payments and transactional services in emerging countries and in the U.S. The company operates its business through its global mobile payments and transaction processing provider, TOT Group. TOT Group companies include Unified Payments, recognized by Inc. Magazine as the #1 Fastest Growing Private Company in America in 2012; Aptito, a next generation cloud-based point of sale payments platform; and TOT Money, which has a leading position in Russia and has been ranked as the #1 SMS content provider by Beeline, Russia’s second largest telecommunications operator. NETE has global development centers and high-level business relationships in the U.S., Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States.

For more information, visit www.netelement.com.

About SeeThruEquity

SeeThruEquity is an equity research and corporate access firm focused on companies with less than $1 billion in market capitalization. The research is not paid for and is unbiased. We do not conduct any investment banking or commission based business. We are approved to contribute our research to Thomson One Analytics (First Call), Capital IQ, FactSet, Zacks and distribute our research to our database of opt-in investors. We also contribute our estimates to Thomson Estimates, the leading estimates platform on Wall Street.

For more information visit www.seethruequity.com.

Contact:

Ajay Tandon
SeeThruEquity
info@seethruequity.com

SOURCE: SeeThruEquity

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