Usio (USIO) Telefonkonferenz zum 2. Quartal des Geschäftsjahres 2026: Umsatz steigt um 19 %, Prognose angehoben

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Der Umsatz im zweiten Quartal des Geschäftsjahres 2026 stieg im Jahresvergleich um 19 % und beschleunigte sich damit gegenüber einem Wachstum von 15 % in Q1. Ohne Zinserträge lag das Wachstum der Geschäftsbereiche bei nahezu 20 %.
• Das bereinigte EBITDA verdoppelte sich mehr als auf 1,1 Mio. US-Dollar. Das GAAP-Nettoergebnis lag bei 280.000 US-Dollar bzw. 0,01 US-Dollar je Aktie, was das zweite gewinnbringende Quartal in Folge markiert.
• Die Erlöse im Bereich Card stiegen um 28 % auf 9 Mio. US-Dollar, angeführt von einem Wachstum von 43 % bei den PayFac-Erlösen. PayFac machte mehr als drei Viertel der Kartenumsätze aus.
• Die ACH-Erlöse stiegen um 21 %, während die Umsätze im Bereich Output Solutions um 22 % zulegten. Sowohl das verarbeitete Gesamtzahlungsvolumen als auch die Anzahl der verarbeiteten Transaktionen stiegen um jeweils 27 %.
• Usio hob seine Prognose für das Umsatzwachstum im Geschäftsjahr 2026 von 10 % bis 12 % auf 14 % bis 16 % an und rechnet weiterhin mit einem positiven bereinigten EBITDA.
• Das Management identifizierte Usio Ion, einen höhermargigen RTP-Mix, niedrigere Produktionskosten bei Output Solutions sowie verbesserte Konditionen der Sponsor-Banken als potenzielle Treiber der Profitabilität.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Der operative Cashflow lag im ersten Halbjahr im Jahresvergleich niedriger. Nach Bereinigung um eine im Vorjahreszeitraum erhaltene Steuergutschrift für die Bindung von Mitarbeitern in Höhe von 1,5 Mio. US-Dollar stieg der operative Cashflow jedoch an.

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Card und PayFac

Die Erlöse im Bereich Card stiegen um 28 % auf 9 Mio. US-Dollar, was das stärkste Ergebnis in einem zweiten Quartal darstellt. Das verarbeitete Volumen stieg um 13 %, während die Anzahl der Transaktionen um 19 % zulegte.

PayFac blieb der wichtigste Wachstumstreiber. Der Umsatz stieg um 43 %, und das Geschäft machte mehr als 75 % der Card-Umsätze aus. Die Anzahl der PayFac-Händler stieg in den ersten sechs Monaten des Geschäftsjahres 2026 um 34 %.

Das Management führte die Dynamik auf eine wachsende Basis integrierter Softwareanbieter (ISVs) zurück. Da diese Softwarepartner neue Abonnenten gewinnen und Händler auf die Plattform von Usio migrieren, erzielt Usio zusätzliches Zahlungsverarbeitungsvolumen. Zudem wird erwartet, dass im dritten Quartal neue Kunden aus dem Bildungsbereich und weitere ISVs anlaufen werden.

ACH und Echtzeitzahlungen

Die ACH-Erlöse stiegen um 21 %. Die Anzahl der Transaktionen nahm um 34 % zu, das Dollarvolumen wuchs um 28 % und die Bearbeitung von Rückschecks legte um 35 % zu. Im Juli wurde anschließend ein Monatsrekord bei den ACH-Transaktionen erzielt.

Usio verarbeitete Echtzeitzahlungstransaktionen für 12 Kundenkonten, verglichen mit keinen im Vorjahr. Einige Kunden verlagern Transaktionen von PINless-Debit auf RTP. Laut Management generiert RTP zwar weniger Umsatz pro Transaktion, weist jedoch höhere Margen auf, was zu einem leichten Gegenwind beim Gesamtumsatz führt, gleichzeitig aber die Profitabilität unterstützt.

Card Issuing

Der Bereich Card Issuing stand weiterhin unter Umsatzdruck, das Kaufvolumen erholte sich jedoch um 11 %. Die Aufladungen von Karten blieben unverändert und die Transaktionen gingen leicht zurück, wobei sich jede Kennzahl gegenüber dem Vorquartal verbesserte.

Der Bereich schloss im Quartal 16 Neukundenverträge ab und hatte mehr als 20 Kunden in der Implementierungs- oder Skalierungsphase. Schulgutschein-Programme wurden auf etwa fünf bis sechs US-Bundesstaaten ausgeweitet, wobei das Management das potenzielle Gesamtvolumen auf rund 1,5 Mrd. US-Dollar schätzt. Erstauszahlungen erfolgten weitgehend über ACH, und die Mittelbereitstellung soll über das gesamte Schuljahr verteilt stattfinden anstatt nur zu Beginn.

Usio rechnet zudem damit, in der zweiten Jahreshälfte mit der Auszahlung von Studienkredit-Rückerstattungen für mehrere Institutionen über einen Fintech-Partner zu beginnen. Der Partner betreut derzeit 30 Universitäten über einen anderen Prozessor, wobei der Zeitpunkt und der Umfang einer etwaigen Migration zu Usio noch ungewiss sind.

Output Solutions

Der Umsatz im Bereich Output Solutions stieg um 22 % und beschleunigte sich damit gegenüber 19 % in Q1. Die Zahl der gedruckten und versendeten Dokumente stieg um 43 %, während die Anzahl der verarbeiteten und zugestellten elektronischen Dokumente um 49 % zunahm.

Ein neuer Hochgeschwindigkeitsdrucker ist nun in Betrieb. Nach Angaben des Managements ist er etwa viermal schneller als der bisherige Drucker und bietet die vierfache Auflösung. Usio geht davon aus, dass das Gerät die Arbeits-, Wartungs- und Tintenkosten senken und gleichzeitig die Kapazität für qualitativ hochwertigere Arbeiten erweitern wird.

Output Solutions unterzeichnete im Quartal 11 neue Verträge und verlängerte zwei Vereinbarungen. Das Management wies darauf hin, dass der Geschäftsbereich seinen wesentlichen saisonalen Aufschwung in Q1 durch steuerbezogene Arbeiten und andere periodische Projekte erfährt; die Entwicklung in Q2 war überwiegend wiederkehrender Natur.

Usio Ion

Usio Ion, ehemals PostCredit, befindet sich bei einer Handvoll Kunden in der Betatestphase. Das Produkt ist darauf ausgelegt, übergreifend in den Usio-Bereichen Card Issuing, Acquiring, ACH und Output Solutions eingesetzt zu werden.

Das Management erwartet, dass Ion Erlöse aus Zinsen auf Kundengelder, Kartenausgaben und potenziell schnelleren Abwicklungsdiensten generiert. Usio verwahrt derzeit zu jedem Zeitpunkt rund 80 Mio. bis 100 Mio. US-Dollar an Kundengeldern. Das Management glaubt, dass Ion die täglichen Guthaben um mehr als 200 Mio. US-Dollar steigern könnte, was die Gesamtsumme potenziell auf etwa 300 Mio. US-Dollar erhöhen würde. Diese Zahlen stellen die Einschätzung der Chancen durch das Management dar und keine bereits realisierten Guthaben.

Prognose des Managements

Usio hob seine Prognose für das Umsatzwachstum im Geschäftsjahr 2026 auf 14 % bis 16 % an, verglichen mit der vorherigen Prognose von 10 % bis 12 %. Das Unternehmen rechnet zudem weiterhin mit einem positiven bereinigten EBITDA für das Gesamtjahr.

Das Management gab an, dass eine Bruttomarge von 23 % bis 25 % vorerst eine angemessene Modellierungsspanne bleibt. Ein Anstieg auf über 25 % würde maßgeblich von der vollständigen Einführung von Ion abhängen, dessen zinsbasierte Float-Erlöse hohe inkrementelle Margen aufweisen würden.

Zu den weiteren potenziellen Rückenwinden für die Marge gehören ein höherer Anteil an RTP-Transaktionen, niedrigere Produktionskosten bei Output Solutions und verbesserte Konditionen der Sponsor-Banken ab dem dritten Quartal.

Risiken und wichtige Beobachtungspunkte

• Ion befindet sich weiterhin in der Entwicklung, und laut Management wird eine vollständige Einführung Zeit in Anspruch nehmen. Der erwartete Margenbeitrag hängt von der Kundenakzeptanz und der Höhe der auf der Plattform gehaltenen Gelder ab.
• Die Verlagerung von PINless-Debit zu RTP könnte den ausgewiesenen Umsatz leicht reduzieren, obwohl das Management davon ausgeht, dass dadurch die Transaktionsmargen verbessert werden.
• Der Bereich Card Issuing verzeichnet weiterhin Gegenwind beim Umsatz. Die Kartenaufladungen blieben unverändert und die Anzahl der Transaktionen ging in Q2 leicht zurück.
• Die Zinserträge schwanken je nach Zeitpunkt und Dauer der Vorfinanzierungsguthaben der Händler; laut Management war der Rückgang gegenüber dem Vorquartal nicht durch eine Änderung der Zinssätze verursacht.
• Die Liquiden Mittel gingen im ersten Halbjahr aufgrund jährlicher Mittelabflüsse, Aktienrückkäufen und fortgesetzter Investitionen in Wachstumsinitiativen, einschließlich aktivierter Entwicklungskosten für Ion, zurück.

Wichtigste Punkte aus der Fragerunde der Analysten

Die Analysten konzentrierten sich auf die Nachhaltigkeit des PayFac-Wachstums, die Ausweitung der Bruttomarge und den Umfang von Ion. Das Management beschrieb das Modell von PayFac als mehrjährigen Zinseszins-Zyklus: Usio gewinnt ISVs, diese ISVs wachsen und ihre Händler werden Kunden der Zahlungsverarbeitung von Usio. Das Unternehmen erklärte, dass das aktuelle PayFac-Umsatzwachstum von 43 % das Ergebnis jahrelanger Gewinne und Implementierungen von Softwarepartnern ist und nicht auf eine jüngste Strategieänderung zurückgeht.

Bezüglich der Margen bekräftigte das Management kurzfristig die Spanne der Bruttomarge von 23 % bis 25 %. Ion wird als Hauptkatalysator für das Überschreiten dieses Niveaus angesehen, da Zinserträge aus Kundenguthaben hohe inkrementelle Margen mit sich bringen würden.

Das Management erklärte zudem, dass künstliche Intelligenz die Softwareentwicklung vereinfachen und SaaS-Anbieter ermutigen könnte, sich durch integrierte Finanzdienstleistungen zu differenzieren. Usio glaubt, dass dies die Chancen für sein Angebot „PayFac-in-a-Box“ erweitern könnte, das Card- und ACH-Funktionen integriert.

Bezüglich Übernahmen erklärte das Management, dass Usio weiterhin Möglichkeiten prüfe, dabei aber selektiv vorgehe und sich auf ergänzende Vermögenswerte konzentriere, die zu einem angemessenen Preis und ohne wesentliche Probleme erworben werden können.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Welcome to Usio's Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions]

Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael White, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Michael White

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call today. Welcome to Usio's Second Fiscal Quarter 2026 Conference Call. The earnings release, which we issued today after the market closed, is available on our website at usio.com under the Investor Relations tab.

On this call with me today are Louis Hoch, our Chairman and CEO; and Greg Carter, Executive Vice President of Payment Acceptance and Chief Revenue Officer. In addition, Houston Frost, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer; and Jerry Uffner, Head of Card Issuing, will be available during the question-and-answer session.

Let me remind our listeners that certain statements made during the call today constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities and Litigation Act of 1995 as amended and more fully discussed in our press release and in our filings with the SEC. Following our prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session for those who registered as a financial professional.

Let me offer just a few brief comments on the quarter before turning it over to Greg and Louis. We once again met or beat all analyst expectations on both the top and bottom lines while also delivering our second consecutive quarter of positive GAAP net income and earnings per share. Revenue growth remained strong in the second quarter, up 19%, accelerating from 15% in the first quarter. Excluding the impact of interest income, growth at the business unit level was even stronger, approaching 20%. This has led to a very strong first half of the year.

As we move through the second half of the year, we remain focused on executing our strategy and leveraging our innovative technology and diversified business operations to drive continued growth across the markets we serve. In 3 of our product lines, credit card, ACH and Output Solutions, revenue was up over 20%, illustrating continued strength across Usio. Once again, a majority of the quarter's revenue was recurring in nature with no one client accounting for more than 10% of total revenue. Client retention remains high.

Total processing transactions also set new records with total payment dollars processed up 27% and transactions up 27%. Profitability continued to improve. Gross profit dollars increased 12% with margins improving sequentially from the first quarter. Total selling, general and administrative expenses were down approximately $190,000 from a year ago. Excluding depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation, SG&A was down marginally from a year ago despite the 19% increase in revenues.

We remain focused on maintaining a disciplined cost structure as we continue to grow, providing further opportunity for operating leverage. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million for the second quarter of 2026, more than double that of the year ago quarter. For the first half of the year, we generated $1.9 million of adjusted EBITDA, our best first half in years. We reported positive net income of $280,000 or $0.01 per share in the quarter. Again, net income was from core operations and does not include any unusual, nonrecurring extraordinary or onetime items. This marks our second consecutive quarter of positive GAAP net income, an important milestone and an area where we remain intensely focused.

While operating cash flow was lower in the first half compared to last year, adjusting for the $1.5 million employee retention credit received in the prior year period, operating cash flow actually increased year-over-year. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were $6.4 million, down from the beginning of the year, primarily reflecting the timing of several annual cash outlays during the first half. In addition, we used approximately $371,000 to repurchase 281,000 shares of our common stock during the 6 months ended June 30, 2026, including $235,000 in the second quarter. We also continue to invest in strategic growth initiatives, including capitalized development work on Usio Ion.

Overall, we are very pleased with our performance through the first half of the year. We are delivering strong revenue growth across the business and maintaining disciplined control of our cost structure to translate that growth into improved profitability. With that momentum and the opportunities we see ahead, we believe we are well positioned for a strong second half of 2026.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Greg Carter.

Greg Carter

Thank you, Michael, and good afternoon, everyone. It was another strong quarter for Card. Revenue was up 28% year-over-year to $9 million with growth accelerating from the first quarter and the best ever second quarter revenue. Dollars processed were up 13% and transactions processed were up 19% from a year ago. Once again, results were driven by the strength of our PayFac business, where revenue was up 43% in the quarter. PayFac continues to represent over 3/4 of Card's revenue and is the primary driver behind the inflection in our revenue growth rate.

The second quarter was consistent with the growth path we established years ago when we introduced our evolutionary PayFac technology. The formula is straightforward. PayFac's innovative technology attracts new accounts, they get implemented, they steadily bring their merchants onto our platform, and those merchants' volumes grow over time. Just the first 6 months of this year, merchant count has increased to 34%. So we have the flywheel of growth spinning nicely.

For instance, our large bodega-oriented health care account has been steadily ramping. In fact, based on the industry buzz created by this implementation, we now have another very similar opportunity. Headed into the school year, we are seeing nice growth with our education-oriented accounts, and we anticipate a nice pickup in the third quarter from a couple of new ISVs that are ramping up. There have also been more omnichannel sales wins, something we've been emphasizing with our sales organization. Whether they be entities that need onetime or on-demand printing services or a complementary disbursement solution, we signed more of those type of accounts in the second quarter and continue to do so.

Our consolidated sales team is more cohesive and more interactive than it's ever been as a part of the implementation of Usio One, and we only expect the system to improve overall sales performance. In general, we're just getting more productive and efficient. In addition to the increased productivity of our sales organization, we are likewise seeing improved efficiency in our operations, which is helping margins.

Essentially, everyone in Card's back office is a certified payments professional. So we now have an increasingly professionally educated and highly tenured organization. We just continue to get better in all facets of the business.

Now I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Louis Hoch.

Louis Hoch

Thank you, Greg, and welcome, everyone. The second quarter was another strong quarter. For the second time this year, we met or exceeded analyst revenue, adjusted EBITDA and EPS estimates, and we generated positive GAAP net income and EPS. All of our key performance indicators were strong. Total payment dollars increased 27%. Payment transactions processed were also up 27% and revenues were up over 20% in 3 of our business lines. At the midway point, we are on pace for one of our best years. And based upon our performance and outlook, we are raising our full year revenue growth guidance, and we believe there is tremendous potential for even more growth ahead.

There's a lot to talk about this quarter, so let me get right into our performance and the drivers behind our success. In our most profitable business, ACH, revenues increased 21% with transactions up 34%, dollar volume up 28% and returned check processing up 35%. That momentum has continued into the third quarter with July setting a new monthly ACH transaction record. If these trends continue, we will be on pace for our sixth consecutive quarter of ACH transaction volume growth.

PINless debit and real-time payment transactions have both remained strong. While we are seeing some customers shift transactions from PINless debit to RTP, RTP transactions generally generate higher margins despite carrying a lower cost per transaction. As a result, this shift will benefit overall profitability, although modestly weighing on the top line revenue. We are now processing RTP transactions for 12 accounts from 0 last year, and we expect to see RTP revenue continue to grow at a strong rate. As one of the industry's new payment channels, our ability to capture RTP volume is indicative of our ability to innovate and develop new technology that is responsive to emerging payment needs.

Card issuing delivered an improved quarter despite continued revenue headwinds, demonstrating the strength of the business model, disciplined expense management and a meaningful progress on strategic growth initiatives. Purchase volume rebounded up 11%, although card loads were flat and transactions down slightly. These are all improvements on a sequential basis. In the quarter, issuing signed 16 new clients with over 20 clients in implementation or with volume scaling.

Of course, one of our most exciting opportunities on the horizon is the school voucher programs. Some states have already begun going live with additional states expected to follow over the second half of this year and into 2027. The potential scale of these programs is significant. One state alone is expected to disburse approximately $1.2 billion. And while these programs represent an exciting opportunity for our card issuing business, a lot of the initial disbursements have been ACH.

In line with our strategy, this one account is a revenue opportunity for multiple channels of our payments platform. Importantly, this program is with an existing client with whom we've already integrated. So some of the heavy lifting is finished. Consequently, we can focus on all of our energies on getting these programs rolled out. We also expect to begin distributing university loan payment refunds for several universities through a fintech strategic partner during the second half of the year.

Our partner currently works with 30 universities through another processor, and we believe there is an opportunity to transition those programs to Usio over time. The potential payment volumes are significant, making this another exciting growth opportunity for card issuing.

Output Solutions continues to have an outstanding year. Revenues increased 22% in the second quarter, accelerating from 19% growth in the first quarter. Pieces processed and mailed increased 43%, while electronic documents processed and delivered were up 49%. It was Output Solutions' strongest second quarter by a wide margin with the business setting a new monthly revenue record in each successive month of the first half of the year.

We also have our new high-speed printer online, representing a significant upgrade to our production capabilities. The new equipment is approximately 4x faster than our existing printer and offers 4x the resolution, expanding our ability to support both transactional and higher quality print work. Importantly, we expect it to be more cost effective as well. The increased speed requires less labor for the same level of output, while newer technologies should reduce maintenance costs and even lower ink cost despite the significantly higher print quality.

To get a sense of these capabilities of this new equipment, I encourage you to take a look at the video that we posted on our Usio LinkedIn page. In the second quarter, Output signed 11 new contracts and renewed 2 other existing agreements. This includes a large alternative retail deregulated electric provider that happens to be one of the 3 largest in the state of Texas. It is also encouraging to note that their success is not going unnoticed. Inbound traffic is on the rise, which over time, we believe will be a boost to the business.

In addition to the growth opportunities within our existing business, we have some new products under development that we expect to be launching in the near future. Most importantly is Usio Ion, the name we have chosen for PostCredit. While there's still work to do, we are making great progress. The concept has been floated by a number of existing clients, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We expect to host a demonstration of Ion in the near future and look forward to giving you a closer look at the platform so you can get a feel for the opportunity we believe it represents.

Let me close by reiterating our continued focus on margins and profitability. We have several tailwinds that we believe can support continued margin improvement. These include more profitable transaction mix from products such as RTP, our lower production cost at Output Solutions and the continued rollout of Ion. At the same time, we remain focused on our cost structure. As one example, our increased processing volumes have enabled us to secure improved pricing from our sponsoring banks beginning in the third quarter.

Together, we believe these initiatives provide multiple opportunities to drive greater operating leverage and improved profitability as we continue to grow. As a result, we are now raising our full year guidance. For fiscal 2026, we now expect revenue growth of 14% to 16%, up from our previous guidance of 10% to 12% expectations. We also expect to continue to generate positive adjusted EBITDA as we remain focused on driving greater profitability and operating leverage across our business.

So a great first half with a lot of strong results and increasing prospects for better growth and profitability. Most of our businesses are growing at better than 20%, and we have exciting opportunities to sustain, if not improve our long-term growth. There's also an intense focus on profitable growth.

I want to thank the Usio employees for their continued dedication and commitment to growing our business, strengthening our company and creating long-term value for our shareholders.

Operator, you can now open the call to questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

The first question comes from Neil Cataldi with Blueprint Capital.

Fragen und Antworten

Neil Cataldi

Great quarter. My first one is you mentioned PayFac merchant accounts up 34%. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about this flywheel, as you called it, maybe for those newer to the story. What's the flywheel? And why is it really kicking in right now?

Greg Carter

Well, as I said, the beauty of our PayFac model is we secure these ISVs or these software companies that may have anywhere from 100 to 500 subscribers today. Fast forward if their business model goes like our current ISVs 4, 5 years down the road, that merchant base goes to 500 to 1,000. And as those onboard with the software companies, we get access for providing payments to those entities.

So that, combined with the number of ISVs we've put on over the past several years, that's the flywheel of growth. It's an incredibly robust business model. And again, as we add more ISVs, the ISVs then in turn add merchants, which become our merchants by default. And that's the third leg of the stool. New ISVs, ISV growth and then merchant growth within that community.

Neil Cataldi

That's helpful. It's great to see that kicking in. A couple more. So last quarter, you guided gross margins to improve towards 23% to 25% you said in the short term. 24% today is great. And I think the color on this call has been very helpful. With the new programs launching that you just discussed, is it reasonable to assume that maybe we can go even above 25% over the next few quarters?

Louis Hoch

The key to the growth there is going to be the full launch of Ion, which the way we make money off of Ion is through float primarily and some card spend, but float is obviously 100% margin for us. So Ion is going to be a big catalyst for increasing our margins.

Neil Cataldi

Okay. And regarding net interest income, which I think is what you're talking about, how should we think about a recovery there through the second half as the education programs come on?

Louis Hoch

Well, the education programs, some of them have already started a little bit. Most of that traffic is occurring through ACH. And we remain very excited about the 2 verticals in the education or the 2 instances. One is school voucher programs that we talked about. I believe we've gone from 3 states to 2 states to -- how many do we have now? Around 5 or 6 that we'll be doing voucher programs for. And what's nice about these programs is it's not like all the money is disbursed when school starts, it actually happens over the course of a school year.

So we'll start seeing some good volume from that occur when school kicks off here in August and September. And the other program is Title IV payments. Those are school loan -- yes, school loan refunds, which we have 1 university coming live in this third, fourth quarter. But that one customer or that one reseller works today with 30 universities, and we're hopeful that we're going to get all of that traffic.

Neil Cataldi

Okay. And just to clarify, I think -- did you say 5 or 6 states on the school vouchers? Or did I not hear that correct?

Louis Hoch

Yes. That's correct. I think the last time we talked, it was 2, and we've added a few.

Neil Cataldi

Okay. And maybe some ballpark on what total volumes would be across the 5 to 6?

Louis Hoch

Around $1.5 billion.

Neil Cataldi

Okay. Okay. And my last one is just on the ACH tailwinds. So Nacha, I think I'm saying that right, data shows that the P2P ACH is growing like 21%, same day is up 30%. The industry seems to be moving towards what you guys have built, which is this like embedded multi-rail kind of infrastructure.

So my question is, as AI, I think, sort of transforms SaaS companies and how they operate, do you guys have any thoughts on how embedded payments become more of a determining factor in which platforms win? And do you think that's sort of starting to show itself a bit in the ACH tailwinds you're seeing?

Louis Hoch

Well, it's definitely going to benefit PayFac, which includes Card and ACH. But AI is making some software development tasks easier. And what used to be competitive in software development was building software and having great infrastructure. Now people are able to reproduce it easier. So those software companies are looking for ways to increase the value of their platforms. And the best way to do it is to embed payments and make a financial tool out of your software application, which is an absolute perfect fit for our PayFac-in-a-Box offering. And so we think as time evolves with AI, that will create even more opportunities for us in PayFac.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

The next question comes from Barry Sine with Litchfield.

Barry Sine

Very good quarter, both the results and the nice surprise in positive guidance. It's almost as if you guys are carrying around lucky rabbit foot. I'm trying to understand the drivers. You gave out a lot of key points. And it seems to me that the new -- well, I guess, not so new anymore, Usio One strategy really is working. You've changed the compensation. You're now -- your team is cross-selling all the products. So we're seeing new customers. We're seeing new products with existing customers. And then you also have introduced new products like RTP, and it sounds like Ion is part of the new guidance. Can you elaborate a little bit more, please?

Louis Hoch

Well, obviously, we're very excited about Ion. We think that's a catalyst for not only top line growth, but will increase our margins, and we look forward to the full rollout of that. It's going to take time for us to do that. But we already have a handful of customers beta testing for us and the results are good. And every part of our business is doing really, really well. And it's showing credibility to our strategy of having all payment channels, too.

We're seeing some PINless transactions go to RTP. And while RTP transactions have less revenue, they have higher margins. But if we didn't have RTP, we would have missed out on that traffic and that traffic continues to grow really well. When RTP allows for debits instead of just pushing funds, we'll see a big jump in usage of RTP for our customer base. But our existing customers continue to grow and we're doing a great job of landing new deals as well. And so we're just -- we're optimistic about this year and our future growth.

Barry Sine

So if I can drill down a little bit more on PayFac. So in the past, you've talked about -- I don't know if I missed it, but the PayFac growth rate in the quarter. But you've also, in the past, had a bit of a challenge onboarding PayFac customers or PayFac merchants rather not customers. It seems like you've solved that. Could you give us a bit of an update on PayFac and where you are now? I mean it seems much improved versus a couple of years ago.

Greg Carter

Yes, Barry, it's really lather, rinse and repeat. I mean we've been doing the same thing for the last 7 years. And what we're seeing now is all that comes to fruition. While we sincerely appreciate everyone's patience, if you look back historically, there has been a slow but steady upward climb of the PayFac revenue model, and now we're just seeing the benefits of that. So it isn't that we're -- we found some secret sauce.

Really, the key is adding as many ISVs as we can possibly accommodate into the implementation queue and then working with each entity, each ISV individually to help them with that transition on the merchants. And really, that's been the secret. But I think it's also just a culmination of doing this for many years and that patience and persistence is paying off.

Barry Sine

What was PayFac growth in the quarter?

Greg Carter

43% over a year ago.

Barry Sine

Okay. And I want to zero back in on Ion. When you announced the acquisition of PostCredit, maybe I'm wrong, but I didn't give it a lot of thought. It was a relatively small transaction. I'm not sure it was even operational. It was a platform that was used to handle expenses for movie productions in Hollywood. You guys have taken that. You've revamped it. And I'm very surprised that Louis called that out as 1 of your 3 catalysts for this year. So you've taken a tiny little product that you pay very little for. Maybe you can remind us, revamped it and now it's a major -- you're looking at it as a major catalyst for growth this year?

Louis Hoch

Well, what's exciting about Ion is that it was on our road map to develop and then when Houston located this company and did his due diligence, we figured out we could implement the product faster. So we really just bought software and it kind of leapfrogged our development. So what we were looking at developing 18 months to 2 years, we're able to do in 6 months. So that implementation time frame for us has really shortened and it allowed us to potentially go into the market quicker.

And Ion is -- the most exciting thing about Ion is the margin that's created from float. But it's also going to increase our visibility for risk and fraud. It potentially will allow us to settle funds quicker to our customers, which we will definitely charge for that action. And then we're going to see usage on cards when they use the program -- the product as an expense management system. So it is the first product that sits on top of all of our divisions, and that is really exciting to us because it works for Output customers to be sending in their prepaid postage to us.

For Card Issuing, it works for card load money to go into. For acquiring, it works for us to settle funds from ACH and from card transactions for the merchants to go in and either leave the funds there or withdraw it to whatever bank of their choice. But we believe that there's over $200 million on a daily basis that we can potentially have in the Ion platform. So today, in any given time, we have $80 million to $100 million that's not ours. If we can increase that to $300 million, that's a substantial float for us.

Barry Sine

So to understand that, it sounds like Ion revenue will show up in the number of the product categories or service categories that you guys announced, including interest income or interest revenue. Is that correct?

Louis Hoch

Yes. Well, it's definitely going to -- the card transactions will show up in Card Issuing and interest income, we'll leave that up to Michael to figure out where that one is going to go. But it's a product that sits upon all of our -- on top of all of our divisions. So where we book it is a good problem to have, right?

Barry Sine

Yes. A very high-class problem to have. Lastly, you just hit -- it sounds like you hit another home run with Ion. You did that several years ago with Output Solutions. Do you have any more rabbits in your hat, Louis, in terms of acquisitions? What are you guys looking at? What are the priorities? Is there anything imminent? I mean, you've now got a very good track record with acquisitions. Can you -- are you going to follow that up with additional ones?

Louis Hoch

Yes. We look at deals all the time, and we're just very selective. And I guess that's part of the reason why we've been successful. But we continue to look. And if it's complementary and we can buy it right and whatever we're buying doesn't have any issues, we'll go for it.

Barry Sine

But it doesn't sound like there's anything imminent on the horizon right now.

Louis Hoch

Barry, if there was, I wouldn't be able to talk about it on this call, right?

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

The next question comes from Kris Tuttle with Blue Caterpillar.

Kris Tuttle

They're really more housekeeping. As you know, I'm kind of newly modeling you guys, and there were just a couple of minor variances. On Output Solutions, is there some seasonality there on Q3 -- I mean, Q2, I'm sorry, which came in like just -- it was a great improvement year-over-year, but just a little bit less than I expected. And I'm just curious to know if that level, the [ 5669 ], is if that represents any kind of seasonality?

Louis Hoch

Yes. Output does experience seasonality, but that happens in Q1 when we perform tax-related print and mail and electronic document delivery, 1099s, property taxes for a lot of counties. And in Q1, we actually printed a large amount of voter registration cards for the state of Texas, which is a reoccurring deal, but it only happens once every 2 years for us. So the seasonality occurs in Q1. Q2, we just did a great job. And so the majority of that is reoccurring.

Kris Tuttle

I get it. So Q1, you get a bit of an extra bump and then Q2, Q3, Q4 are more just based on strength of the business, which, as you pointed out, is at a new higher level.

Louis Hoch

Yes.

Kris Tuttle

Okay. The other variance really was in the cost of services, pretty nice margin improvement. And I'm just making sure that, that's -- it's not some sort of one-off thing that happened. Maybe you could just talk a little bit about the mechanics of that. And you had a very good cost of services number this quarter.

Louis Hoch

Yes. We're comfortable in the 23% to 25% gross margins. To get above 25%, Ion is going to be a big catalyst for us. So if you're modeling, if you're 23% to 25%, you'll be in the ballpark.

Kris Tuttle

Okay. All right. Great. And the last one, and this is really small. Interest on ACH and complementary services was like down a bit sequentially, which is on trend a little bit, but I'm just curious to understand what's driving that.

Michael White

So this is Michael. I can answer that one. It's really just -- it's dependent on the amount of time that merchants are keeping funds in their Usio prefunding balance essentially. So the number kind of -- the number of deposits we have on hand on behalf of others fluctuates on a day-to-day basis. So there really wasn't a change in rates or anything like that. It was the timing of cash that we had. So to Louis' point, we're expecting the rollout of Ion to have more of our customers' funds on hand at any given time. So that's why we're expecting that interest income to jump up.

Kris Tuttle

Okay. I got it. And yes, very much appreciate your updated guidance as we discussed in Vegas towards the upper end of what you had initially talked about earlier in the year. So we look forward to seeing you perform against that and see where we end up for the fiscal year. So thanks a lot for all your fine work.

Louis Hoch

Thank you, Kris.

Greg Carter

Thank you.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.