24 September 2024
Boku, Inc.
("Boku" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")
Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2024
Continued revenue growth as we lift our ambition to be the world's best localised payment partner for global commerce
Boku (AIM: BOKU), a global network of local payment solutions, is pleased to announce the following unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2024 ("H1 2024").
Financial Highlights
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Revenues increased 24% to |
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Revenues include |
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Adjusted EBITDA1 increased 18% to |
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An operating loss of |
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Boku's 'own' cash1 increased to approximately |
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The average daily cash balance1, a measure which smooths out the effect of carrier collections and merchant payments, was |
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In H1 2024, |
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Interest income increased to |
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A higher Boku share price drove a fair value loss of |
Operational highlights
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We continue to see significant growth in both users and payment volumes: |
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30% increase in monthly active users2 ("MAUs") in June 2024 to 79.6m (June 2023: 61.2m). |
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39.9m new users made their first payment or bundling transaction with Boku during the first half of the year (H1 2023: 32.7m). |
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Total Payment Volume2 ("TPV") up 16% to |
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Growth driven by strong performance in digital wallets and A2A connections: |
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MAUs increased 86% to 8.8m in the month of June 2024 (June 2023: 4.7m). |
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New users increased by over 46% to 9.2m in H1 2024 (H1 2023: 6.3m). |
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Take rate2 increased to 0.81% in H1 2024 (H1 2023: 0.76%) driven by higher take rates from digital wallet revenues. |
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Over 50 new launches across LPMs in H1 2024 with new and existing merchants including Netflix, Sony and Google. |
The shareholders have approved the board's proposal for a new stretch restricted share unit plan. This plan will support and reward the performance of the executive management team of the Company in a fair, transparent and proportionate manner.
Stuart Neal, Boku's CEO, commented:
"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 EBITDA margin above 30%.
"It is pleasing to see continued double-digit growth in our Direct Carrier Billing ("DCB") 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 revenues in H1 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."
1 These represent alternative performance measures ("APMs") for the Group. Refer to the Non-IFRS financial information section of Boku's 2024 Interim Report for a summary of APMs used, together with their definitions.
2 For a full list of definiitons and abbreviations used by the Group, refer to the Glossary at the end of Boku's 2024 Interim Report.
Investor Presentation
The Company will be hosting an online investor presentation and Q&A session at 5.30 p.m. BST, today, Tuesday 24 September 2024. This session is open to all existing and prospective shareholders. Those who wish to attend should register via the following link where they will be provided with access details
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nTiw40r8QsqXtvpPZKXyww
Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions during the session, but questions are welcomed in advance and may be submitted to: boku@investor-focus.co.uk.
Enquiries:
Boku, Inc. Stuart Neal, Chief Executive Officer Robert Whittick, Chief Financial Officer |
+44 (0)20 3934 6630 |
Investec Bank plc (Nominated Advisor & Joint Broker) Nick Prowting / Kamalini Hull / Patrick Robb |
+44 (0)20 7597 5970 |
Peel Hunt LLP (Joint Broker) Neil Patel / Ben Cryer / Kate Bannatyne |
+44 (0)20 7418 8900 |
IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR & IR) Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring / Florence Chandler |
+44 (0)20 3934 6630 |
Note to Editors:
Boku, Inc. (AIM: BOKU) is a leading global provider of mobile payment solutions. Boku's mobile-first payments network, including mobile wallets, direct carrier billing, and account to account/real-time payments schemes, reaching over 7.5 billion mobile payment accounts through a single integration.
Customers that trust Boku to simplify sign-up, acquire new paying users and prevent fraud include global leaders such as Amazon, Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Sony, Spotify and
Boku Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in
To learn more about Boku, Inc., please visit: https://www.boku.com
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORT
The first half of 2024 has seen Boku continue to demonstrate solid revenue growth, following on from a very strong 2023. As presented at the FY 2023 results, 2024 will be a year of continued top line growth, largely from existing merchants, coupled with increased investment in the business as we lift our ambition to be the world's best localised payments partner for global commerce.
The planned investment comes in four focused areas:
· Investment in the functionality required to deliver the next wave of growth opportunities for our existing merchants (some of which are scheduled to technically land in Q4 2024)
· Investment to scale our business to attack the global commerce market, allowing for a wider range of LPMs and market-leading money movement capabilities
· Investment to fund R&D projects to design and build an off-the-shelf Boku product that can target a wider set of global merchants (either directly or via channel partners)
· Investment in our delivery capability to ensure that the whole company can scale efficiently and maintain good operational gearing
We believe that the above initiatives are fully costed within existing analyst projections and covered with existing cash reserves.
More of the same in H1
Revenues in the period were up 24% (30% if you remove the impact of exchange rate movements, largely the negative impact of a depreciating Japanese Yen over the period).
It is pleasing to see continued double-digit growth in our Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) product, proving once again its resilience and the value added for our merchants. DCB allows consumers to make digital purchases and charge those purchases to their phone bill, which is settled at the end of the billing period. In that regard, DCB is the original Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product. It is for this reason that it proves to be a highly effective way for merchants to attract more users in any given market. We have seen continued strong performance in heritage DCB markets such as
Digital wallets and Account to Account (A2A) payments have kicked on again and during H1 comprised 25% of total Group revenues. We now have expansion plans for these products with all of our key merchants in new and existing markets. Thus, it is our expectation that the product mix within our business will continue to see an increasing shift towards these payment types.
It is by design that our success is directly linked to the success of our merchants. Being useful for our merchants is key to the ongoing success of our business, which is why Monthly Active Users are tracked as a measure of how we have performed for our merchants. In June 2024, 79.6m users successfully completed a transaction using the Boku platform to access the services provided by our merchants, 30% more users than did so in June 2023.
An operating loss of
Innovate or die
Juniper research points to the global ecommerce market growing to
Boku already possesses a formidable set of assets to be successful in this market - we serve some of the largest and most exacting merchants in the world, we have high quality connections to c.300 individual LPMs, licenses to move money in 60 countries and a flexible set of connections that offer card-like conversion rates. Put simply, we remove complexity for our merchants as they attempt to grow their businesses internationally.
To fully maximise the long-term potential for Boku, we are now adding scaling capabilities as described below.
With the addition of A2A payments to our network, consumer funds will be flowing through our regulated bank accounts in real time. A significant emphasis is being placed on compliance, segregation of funds, automated reconciliation and faster settlement of funds, both domestically and cross border.
To deliver a differentiated global money movement capability, over the next 6-9 months we are building a sophisticated treasury platform, supported by a number of tier one banking partners, offering best in market payments capability and foreign exchange rates for our merchants.
Scaling the back end of our platform will allow for strong margin growth as Boku rolls out to the broader ecommerce market and adds new payment products in new geographies such as UPI in
In addition to scaling the platform, we also welcomed some new executives to the Boku leadership team during H1, who will add vast experience and knowhow when it comes to helping the business navigate the tricky step from start up to scale up. Victoria Rogers (formerly AO.com) joined as Chief People Officer, Paul Jarrett (formerly Zepz) joined as Global Head of Banking and Rob Whittick (formerly NatWest Bank) joined as our new Chief Financial Officer. I am excited to see what the combination of existing Boku leadership talent and our new executives will deliver as we grow.
Outlook for the year
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.
Once again, I would like to offer a huge note of thanks to the 452 Boku colleagues around the world, whose incredible talent and energy have helped to deliver these results and provide a springboard for what's to come.
Stuart Neal
Chief Executive Officer
24 September 2024
1 Boku & Juniper Research, 2024. 2024 Global Ecommerce Report. Available at: https://www.boku.com/boku-knows/2024-boku-global-ecommerce-report.
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER'S REPORT
Introduction and thank you
I am pleased to present my first interim report as CFO of Boku. Since my arrival in July, I have been warmly welcomed by colleagues across the company. My particular thanks to Keith for ensuring a smooth transition.
I have been thoroughly impressed by the dedication, talent, and innovative spirit that defines the Boku team. Our global payments platform is market leading in the DCB and other LPM arenas with an impressive list of merchants and an extensive, growing network of issuers across the world.
As we look forward, I am excited about the future of Boku. Together, we will continue to build on our successes, leveraging our strengths to drive sustainable growth for our customers and long-term value for our shareholders. We aim to become the world's best network for localised payment methods, and I am delighted to be part of that journey. With over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector, I look forward to contributing to our shared vision and helping steer the company towards new and ambitious goals.
A summary of our financial and operational highlights for the six months to 30 June 2024 are set out below:
Financial Highlights |
H1 2024 |
H1 20232 |
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