BPS Technology to enter China with the world’s largest business-to-business trade exchange
Bartercard, the world’s largest business-to-business trade exchange will now roll out across 21 provinces in China following an agreement with Australian Capital Express Limited.
BPS Technology Limited (ASX:BPS), which operates the world’s largest barter trade exchange, signed the agreement worth a total of US$2.6 million (AU$3.25 million) providing Australian Capital Express Limited with an exclusive license for the Bartercard system in the People’s Republic of China. The contract will see BPS Technology receive service fees of 6% of revenues generated from all Chinese based members.
The announcement follows the expansion of the Bartercard service into South Africa in a similar license deal announced in November 2014, valued at US$500,000. The deal will see the first South African Bartercard operation open in the Johannesburg area. In addition, Bartercard’s US and UK operations have also seen significant expansions with the opening of two additional offices in each of the regions.
Commenting on the announcement, BPS Technology’s CEO, MR Trevor Dietz, said: “This agreement marks an important milestone for the Bartercard business given the vast opportunities for our platform in China. The size of the Chinese market, coupled with the ability for Bartercard to generate significant transactional revenues over time, makes this a very attractive growth avenue for BPS Technologies. This transaction is a further example of the company’s strategy of international expansion into one of the largest markets in the world. We look forward to the roll out of the Bartercard platform in China and the continuing growth of merchants and cardholders in that country.”
Bartercard UK Operations Ltd, the UK’s largest business-to-business trade exchange, entered its 19th year of operation in the UK earlier this year as it celebrated facilitating more than half a billion pounds of goods traded. The business sailed past the half-billion mark in 2014 when a motorhome rental company purchased a tank driving team building event marking the T£500 million bartered transaction.
Since setting up in the UK in 1996, Bartercard has been used to trade a wide range of products and services including more than T£55m of hospitality industry products and T£20m of food bills in restaurants.
Philip Ciniglio, CEO for Bartercard UK, added: “We are hugely excited by the continued expansion of the Bartercard service around the globe. The firm is going from strength to strength – in June we had increased trading by ten per cent year-on-year – and we are expecting this trend to continue.
“The UK bartering market is expanding rapidly, as more people are using barter as a way of getting value from spare capacity and excess stock. Half a billion trade demonstrates this, as does the global expansion seen from the latest announcements from BPS Technology Ltd.”
Australian Capital Express Limited is jointly controlled by Messrs. Humphrey Xu, Zhou Jun, Tong Fei and Liu Su. Spokesperson for the company, Mr Humphrey Xu, said: “It has been a personal goal of mine for more than ten years to bring Bartercard to China. We are excited by the opportunities for this platform in China and our association with BPS, an Australian ASX listed company.”