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Unattended-payments provider USA Technologies Inc. announced late Wednesday that it has filed overdue financial reports for its fiscal years 2019 and 2018 ended June 30, as well as several late quarterly reports. The company also restated financial data for some periods dating back to fiscal 2015.
The new filings and restatements all are the result of an internal investigation USAT announced in September 2018. The probe discovered overstated revenue projections attributed to sales pressure, and concluded that some of the company’s financial reports were unreliable. Over the course of the investigation USAT’s chief financial officer and auditor resigned.
Malvern, Pa.-based USAT reported earlier that the investigation would result in a reduction of no more than $5.5 million to previously stated revenues.
USAT’s shares were suspended from Nasdaq Global Market trading Sept. 26 when the company, after receiving several deadline extensions to file required reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, blew a final deadline of Sept. 23. Since then USAT’s shares have been quoted on the less-prominent OTC (over-the-counter) market.
“Now that the company is current in its financial reporting, it will begin the process of working with the Nasdaq to trade on the Nasdaq,” a USAT spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News by email.
The investigation and restatements cost $15.4 million. The accounting turmoil, however, didn’t stop USAT from growing its revenues. They rose 8.5% in fiscal 2019 to $143.8 million, though the company did report a net loss of $32 million compared with an $11.3 million loss a year earlier.
USAT added 141,000 net new connections to its payment network in fiscal 2019, bringing the total to nearly 1.17 million. The customer count grew by 3,169 to 19,400.
“We are pleased to have completed our audit and restatements in order to regain compliance with our periodic reporting requirements,” USAT chief executive Stephen P. Herbert said in a news release. “Over the past year, we have improved procedures and controls while continuing to grow our customer base and connection count.”
In a letter to shareholders, Herbert also announced USAT raised $20 million in a private placement of common stock with Antara Capital Master Fund LP. Antara also committed $30 million in debt financing.
