Boku Inc on Tuesday said it has swung to a loss in the first half of 2024 amid rising administrative expenses, despite a revenue growth of nearly 25%.
The San Francisco-based mobile payment service provider said revenue for the six months to June 30 was $47.3 million, up 24% on-year from $38.2 million.
However, the company swung to a pretax loss of $2.2 million from a profit of $2.4 million year-on-year, as administrative expenses increased 33% to $46.3 million from $34.9 million.
The company also swung to an operating loss of $396,000 from an on-year operating profit of $2.1 million.
Boku said the operating loss was ‘primarily due to increases in foreign exchange revaluation losses on non-USD balances, share based payment expenses driven by increases in both the number of awards granted and our average share price together with accelerated amortisation charges relating to a legacy platform’.
Chief Executive Officer Stuart Neal said: ‘Following on from a very positive 2023, the first half of 2024 has seen Boku continue to demonstrate strong revenue growth, largely driven from existing merchants. We are committed to supporting merchant growth and are lifting our ambition to be the world’s best localised payments partner for global commerce. The first half has therefore also seen us increase our investment in our products and the infrastructure required to scale whilst maintaining our adjusted [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation] margin above 30%.
‘It is pleasing to see continued double-digit growth in our direct carrier billing product, proving once again its resilience and the value it adds for our merchants. Digital wallets and A2A payments have kicked on again and comprised 25% of total group revenue in the first half of 2024. We have expansion plans for these products with all our key merchants, most of which we would expect to see rolled out over the coming two years; thus, it is our expectation that the product mix within our business will continue to see an increasing shift towards these payment types.
‘We reiterate our expectation that 2024 will be a year of solid top line growth that is in turn funding an increase in investment with adjusted Ebitda margins staying broadly flat on 2023. We remain confident that we will achieve expectations for the full year.’
Share in Boku were down 0.3% at 162.07 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
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