WU Western Union Company

In a bid to further expand its money transfer services, MoneyGram International Inc. (MGI), recently announced that it has expanded its online money transfer services to the United Kingdom. All the UK-based MoneyGram customers can avail of this new service.

Couple of days back, the company launched a brand new website in London. The new website launch in the UK is an extension of MoneyGram’s convenient online service offerings. The latest initiative is consistent with the company’s growth strategy of developing and marketing its product and services globally. With regard to this, MoneyGram also plans to expand its cash-to-account service to additional banks.

The company is focused on expanding its money transfer business by bringing in more customers to use this self-service facility. Overall, MoneyGram has a global network of more than 267,000 agent locations covering about 192 countries, which primarily include retailers, international post offices and financial institutions.

The money transfer service enables a customer to send any amount of money from anywhere in the world in minutes and is available round the clock. MoneyGram believes that the concept of transferring money in a hassle-free way would enthrall the customers of U.K. MoneyGram is expected to further improve such services going forward.

We expect this expansion to be accretive to  the company’s revenue. MoneyGram generated total revenue of $1.2 billion in fiscal 2011, thereby registering a growth of 7% over 2010. We expect the expansion to aid significant top-line growth growing forward and also help the company to achieve its guidance. MoneyGram guided first quarter revenue to grow in the band of 7%-9%.

Over the past couple of weeks, MoneyGram carried out a few significant expansions. The company collaborated with two of the five leading foreign currency exchanges – Casa de Cambio Angulo Lopez and Venegiros Casa de Cambio for extending its money transfer network to Venezuela. MoneyGram also partnered with the State Bank of India to increase its presence in the sub-continent.

MoneyGram’s strategic initiatives will help it to attain competitive edge, particularly against the steady global growth of its arch-rival Western Union Co. (WU), which has recently extended its account-based money transfer services to Canada. The company also continues to explore new growth avenues in unchartered territories by incorporating latest and flexible technology that facilitates transfers through mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs, in order to speed up its money transfer services and enhance the remittance volumes.  

We retain our long term Neutral recommendation on MoneyGram. The quantitative Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating) for the company indicates no clear directional pressure on the stock over the near term.

Headquartered in Dallas, MoneyGram International Inc through its subsidiaries provides payment services across the globe.

 
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