More than 4,200 sites have installed next-generation PayPoint One terminals, while 450 retailers have decided to give up their old T2 boxes because of the £10 “legacy charge” coming into force next month, PayPoint revealed at the release of its latest preliminary results.

In the year ended 31 March 2017, the company achieved an operating profit of £53.3m in its core retail networks, up 1.1%, with net revenue of £117.5m, up 6.2%. Total pre-tax profit was £69.1m in a set of results that included the disposals of the company’s mobile and online payments business, and a restructuring of its Collect Plus parcels network to accommodate more than one carrier.

PayPoint chief executive Dominic Taylor told C-Store that the transition of the business “gives us the opportunity to focus on the retail network” and the roll-out of the PayPoint One terminal.

“We don’t want any retailers to withdraw from the network, but we do have this challenge in that the T2 terminal is old technology and is not the platform to take us forward,” he said. “To date, 450 retailers have said they want to get out, out of the 15,000 letters we issued. I’m not saying this to be complacent, it’s just a statement, but I would prefer it if not one retailer left.

“PayPoint One is unique technology, which should suit a whole range of retailer experience. We are investing £10m in capex this year in order to drive value and also to make sure we have a better-informed field force, better able to deal with retailer enquiries when they contact us.

“Our aspiration is to provide first class service to retailers. We acknowledge we have been a long way off that in the past, but we are absolutely determined to drive our retail business forward.”

The company has set a target of 8,000 PayPoint One terminals to be in place by the end of financial year. Later this year the system will be able to offer net settlement for card payments, meaning that shoppers could pay by debit card and the amount will be automatically reconciled to the retailer’s bank account without bank charges.