Afterpay increases US stake as global sales surge
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Afterpay will spend $373 million on increasing its ownership of its critical United States business, the company said on Thursday as it reported a doubling in underlying sales.
Global underlying sales on the buy now, pay later platform soared 106 per cent to $9.8 billion in the six months to December, the Melbourne-based company said in its half-year results announcement on Thursday morning. Its number of active customers jumped 80 per cent to 13.1 million during that time, with US customer numbers growing at 127 per cent to 8 million.
Afterpay’s shares went into a trading halt as the company announced a deal to raise $1.25 billion in convertible notes and increase its ownership of Afterpay US.
Afterpay shares are in a trading halt. Credit:Attila Csaszar
The company said the deal would see Matrix Partners X and other part-owners of its US business sell down their equity interests in Afterpay US, so that Afterpay’s underlying interest in the business rose from 80 per cent to 93 per cent.
Afterpay’s results showed total income, including late fees, rose 89 per cent to $417.2 million. It made an after-tax loss of $79.2 million. The loss increased compared with last year, which it said was related to an increase in the valuation of its option over the remaining shares in its UK business.
Afterpay said its focus remained on global expansion, and international markets outside Australia made up 51 per cent of the sales on the platform, up from 34 per cent a year earlier.
The company said it was poised to launch in Spain, France and Italy, and it expected to receive a key regulatory approval from the Bank of Spain next month.
After it signed a deal with Westpac, Afterpay also provided further details on its plans to provide an app that would allow Australian customers to manage their payments, savings and Afterpay payments.
It said the app was on track for a launch later this year, and the plan was to offer debit cards, a “digital wallets” , and various accounts linked to financial goals.
Co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar, who have become billionaires as Afterpay shares have surged, also both announced plans to establish private ancillary funds for charitable purposes.
The company said the co-founders each planned to transfer 950,000 Afterpay shares into the charitable funds, though they would retain voting rights and control over the shares.
Mr Molnar and Mr Eisen also planned to sell down up to 450,000 Afterpay shares each, with some of the proceeds to be used for the charitable funds.
Afterpay’s income from merchants jumped 108 per cent to $374.2 million, while late fees made up less than 9 per cent of its total income, down from 15 per cent previously.
Amid ongoing debate about the BNPL business model and the huge valuations placed on Afterpay, gross loans as a percentage of underlying ales were 0.7 per cent, which the company said was an historic low.
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