MONI Monitise

By Rory Gallivan

LONDON--Shares in smartphone payments and banking technology company Monitise PLC (MONI.LN) soared Friday after it said it was in talks about a possible sale of its online voucher business.

Monitise bought the business, Markco Media, for an initial 24.5 million pounds ($34.6 million) in 2014.

Since it made the acquisition, Monitise's share price has dived after a series of profit warnings and the loss of Visa Inc. (V) as a shareholder.

The company had been one of the big hopes of the U.K. technology sector, after benefiting from growing consumer-use of smartphones for making payments and banking. However, its prospects have dimmed more recently as banks are developing their smartphone banking technology in house, rather than using companies such as Monitise.

Shares at 1127 GMT, up 46.5%, at 3 pence valuing the company at GBP70.4 million.

Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter: @RoryGallivan

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2016 07:12 ET (12:12 GMT)

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