Harvest Technology plc on Friday announced that it will distribute an interim net dividend of approximately €227,806, a sharp 50 per cent drop from the €455,613 it had initially released in August.

This represents an interim net dividend which is equivalent to €0.01 per share, a decrease from the €0.02 per share that was first announced. Shareholders appearing on Harvest Technology’s register of members as at 9th December 2022 shall be entitled to receive their respective share of the dividend, with the payment then being put into effect on or around 20th December 2022.

The decision comes after the Board of Directors considered the company’s current position side by side to the performance that was expected when the interim financial statements were released in June.

Harvest Technology had previously highlighted the “key challenges” impacting its financial performance for the current year, particularly “regulatory changes, the war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, and rising inflation”. Changes in the regulation of online gaming across multiple jurisdictions have had a negative impact on Harvest Technology’s Payment Processing Services segment, and as a result, the company’s management has taken “several measures to mitigate this risk by further diversifying the client mix towards other sectors”.

Throughout the second half of 2022, its subsidiaries PTL Limited and Apco Limited were particularly affected by “delays in the awards of several multi-million Euro contracts”, which were initially expected to start this year, but instead will start in 2023. “Whilst it is positive that such contracts have been secured for the coming year, the said delays inevitably had a negative impact on the current year’s performance of the Harvest group,” it shared.

Based on the aforementioned challenges and the “ongoing assessment” of its performance, Harvest Technology is expecting profit before tax for the year to be “lower than previously projected”, prompting the drop in interim net dividend. The company had forecast an end of year profit before tax of “around the €3 million mark” in June, which is already lower than the €4 million registered in 2021.

However, the company remarked that despite a “challenging macroeconomic environment”, it continues to “invest carefully in its operating subsidiaries with a view to strengthening their market position and driving further growth, and its drive to pursue acquisitions and expand internationally continues to be a key strategic focus”.

It also appointed Peter Gunnarsson Ekmark as CEO in October, replacing Godwin Caruana, who vacated the role earlier this year.

Harvest Technology is a highly diversified group of technology-based companies that deliver systems and software engineering, security solutions and services, e-commerce platforms, electronic payments solutions, and a number of other services.