Wise PLC on Wednesday offered an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year, after seeing both revenue and profit improve in the first half.

For the six months that ended September 30, the London-based money transfer firm reported pretax profit of £292.5 million, up 51% from £194.3 million a year prior.

Revenue came to £591.9 million, up 19% from £498.2 million a year before, while cost of sales declined 4.9% to £152.9 million from £160.7 million.

Wise said that business customer growth has been slower in the past year due to the pausing of onboarding in the UK and EU in the second half of last year. However, it has been open to new customers more recently and has seen some improvement in growth as a result.

Looking ahead, Wise continues to expect underlying income growth of between 15% and 20% in both financial 2025 and over the medium term from financial 2024.

It also continues to target a medium-term underlying profit margin of between 13% and 16%, a range that it expects to move closer to achieving in the second half of financial 2025.

‘We are pleased with the progress over the first six months of the year, with our key financial metrics maintaining a healthy growth trajectory as we continue investing in the infrastructure that will ultimately enable us to move trillions through our market-leading network,’ said Chief Executive Officer Kristo Kaarmann.

‘Our customers value the speed, convenience and price we offer, with over 70% of new customers joining Wise through recommendations by existing customers. This drove another six months of strong financial performance with YoY growth in active customers of 25%, underlying income of 19%, cross border volume of 19% and a 31% increase in customer holdings.’

Shares in Wise were trading 5.5% higher at 813.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.