The payment technology company stands out for its high growth rate; net revenue soared 64% to $150 million in Travelport’s financial results for 2016. And this is before the oncoming “tsunami of digitisation”, according to Anthony Hynes (pictured above), eNett’s managing director and chief executive.

So what is behind the growth? Multiple reasons, replies Hynes. “With virtual cards, we have been building awareness in the Asia-Pacific region, and building adoption. It’s added to our product set. When we bring new customers in, it tends to start off slowly, but that is now taking off.”

Travel is also a sector in growth mode, and Hynes says overall travel is due to grow at 8% per annum, as a proportion of global GDP, over the next five years. As a result, companies like eNett, plus other payment specialists such as Conferma and HRG’s Fraedom, are likely to grow in tandem - and in particular in the online space.

The company argues that agencies are still losing out by manually processing and reconciling payments (it has just released a microsite and whitepaper exploring how the B2B sector is way behind B2C when it comes to the user experience) – to the tune of €215 million each year. Less so, however, in the online space where adoption is on the rise. eNett’s clients in the OTA sector are growing “two to four times faster” than their retail counterparts, Hynes claims. “Digitisation will drive huge demand, as there’s lots of money being moved around. Virtual cards are the primary drivers… we’ve seen 68% average growth per annum over the past five years and we are giving OTAs scale in their operations.”

Joint venture eNett has been part of the Travelport family since 2009, when the latter formed a joint venture by acquiring a stake of 57% in what was then known as PSP International (and now called Optal). But in 2014, Travelport raised its stake in the Australian firm to 73%. The increase was in part due to Travelport preparing for its public listing in 2015; other moves included offloading its Orbitz division for in 2014. The remaining shares in eNett belong to Optal, a card-issuing specialist, which suits Hynes as this responsibility means eNett has a lot more “flexibility and confidence”.

Following the renewed Travelport investment, Hynes says there was little impact on the company. “Travelport kept coming back to us, they could see how we knew the travel product was vended. That separates us from the rest of the competition.” Travelport by its very nature of focusing on travel is a perfect fit too.

Travel remains eNett’s “bread and butter” says Hynes, despite its ability to clearly venture into other sectors. “More than that, it’s our focus. We’ve looked at the vertical and it’s quite unique. One holiday for £11,000 for example can turn into many payments; there aren’t many industries like that.”

Ticking clock
However, the future is not all rosy. With the Brexit countdown clock now ticking, with an exit date of March 29, 2019, uncertainty looms. “With Brexit, anyone who says they know the outcome is clearly making it up,” Hynes laughs. “There are lots of challenges. Phone calls are just one area, with roaming charges, then there’s travel insurance, passenger rights and so on.

“There will be tighter borders too, so that affects people coming into Britain to work in tourism. Does the UK mimic what it had in Europe? What’s certain is that there is a tsunami of digitisation. With currency after Brexit you won’t have to holiday too far for all those different currencies to come into play, and pre-pay suppliers.”

Despite revenue growth predicted to slow to 20% for the year, Hynes is in bullish mood and says eNett’s 160 staff count will grow to 240 over the course of 2017 – “partly technology people but also putting people in key markets”.