Business description and basis of presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Business description and basis of presentation

Business description and basis of presentation

1. Business description and basis of presentation

Business description

        Planet Payment, Inc. together with its wholly owned subsidiaries ("Planet Payment," the "Company," "we," or "our") is a provider of international payment and transaction processing and multi-currency processing services. The Company provides its services to approximately 61,000 active merchant locations in 22 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, primarily through its acquiring bank and processor customers, as well as through its own direct sales force. The Company provides banks and their merchants with innovative services to accept, process and reconcile electronic payments. The Company's point-of-sale and e-commerce services are integrated within the international payment card transaction process enabling its acquiring customers to process and reconcile payment transactions in multiple currencies, geographies and channels. The Company's ATM services provide its domestic and international acquirers with additional processing capabilities to help them increase revenue and improve customer satisfaction. The Company also offers non-financial transaction processing services that allow merchants to offer a range of commercial services including pre-paid mobile phone top-up, bill payments and insurance premium payments, using the same point-of-sale devices deployed to accept payment cards. The Company is a registered third party processor with the major card associations and operates in accordance with industry standards, including the Payment Card Industry, or PCI, Security Council's Data Security Standards.

Company structure

        Planet Payment was incorporated in the State of Delaware on October 12, 1999 as Planet Group Inc. and changed its name to Planet Payment, Inc. on June 18, 2007.

        Since March 20, 2006, shares of the Company's common stock have traded on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol "PPT". From March 2006 until June 2013 shares of our common stock were also traded on AIM under the symbol "PPTR." From November 19, 2008 until December 14, 2012, shares of our common stock were traded on the OTCQX under the symbol "PLPM." On December 17, 2012 shares of our common stock began trading on NASDAQ under the symbol "PLPM."

Basis of presentation

        The consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP").

        The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Planet Payment, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

        The Company combined the equity classification line item "Warrants" (previously presented separately) with additional paid-in capital on the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2013 and 2012.