News

Anti-fee campaign hurts British ATM operator's financials

March 12, 2006

The Guardian: Nationwide building society's campaign against fee-charging ATMs drew blood when ATM operator Scott Tod issued a profits warning.

The company said its second-half results were likely to be "substantially below market expectations" -- and laid some of the blame at Nationwide's door. The building society has been spearheading a campaign against ATM charges that became front page news last year when MPs and consumer groups said Britain's network of free-to-use cash machines could be in danger of disappearing.

While Scott Tod experienced a slower than expected growth in transactions, Nationwide reported a record month for ATM use in December.

Scott Tod's shares fell 26 percent to 38 pence on Jan. 25. The Aim-listed firm is one of the biggest independent ATM operators with more than 2,400 machines located mainly in pubs and clubs. It expects to have more than 3,000 ATMs by the end of June.

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