Pushpay puts faith in US
Company, known for its tithing software, plans to retain both its NZX and ASX listings
Pushpay Holdings, which shot to prominence last year on the back of the success of its software that makes it easy for churchgoers to make donations, plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq by the end of this year.
In a market update to the NZX, the Kiwi company said it had exceeded its target of US$100 million ($140m) in annualised committed monthly revenue (ACMR) and would move forward its US listing date as it targets bigger churches.
Chief executive and co-founder Chris Heaslip said the company’s sales growth had encouraged it to bring forward its US plans, having originally expected to list there in early 2019.
“We have not decided which way we will go — either Nasdaq, or the New York Stock Exchange — but a lot of work is going on in that space right now for the team to understand what is the best way to,” Heaslip said in a phone interview from the US. “We have a lot of executives here and a lot of the team are in the US,” he said. “We are proud to build stuff in New Zealand and export it to the rest of the world,” Heaslip said.
With 97 per cent of the company’s business in the US, it made sense to list there, he said. “We feel that we have the size and scale to pull off a US listing on the back of the extremely fast growth that we have had.”
“This is a logical step for us and it is a great signal to our customers, and to the market, that we have a lot of confidence in where we are going.”
Pushpay’s shares closed yesterday at $4.29, up from $1.79 this time last year. The company listed on the NZX main board in June 2015.
Commenting on the sharp run higher in the share price, Heaslip said: “Historically, the higher-growth software companies have been more highly
We feel that we have the size and scale to pull off a US listing. Chief executive Chris Heaslip
valued in the US than in New Zealand and Australia, so with the US listing coming up, that’s a lot of what people are seeing — that there is a lot of upside still to go in the stock.”
ACMR, the company’s preferred metric which measures total billings through merchants that Pushpay collects fees from, was US$106.4m in the three months ended December 31, 2017, from US$57.9m in the December 2016 quarter.
Average revenue per customer rose to US$1233 per month in the quarter, from US$785 per month a year earlier.
The company’s business stems from an idea to make it simple for people to make donations to charities, in much the same way as it is for mobile phone users to buy music through iTunes.
Heaslip says the average donation through Pushpay is US$200. The company charges a fee for the organisation using its platform and software, and “clips the ticket” on each transaction, in much the same way as credit card companies do.
Another high-profile software company, Xero, plans to de-list from the NZX on January 31 and make Australia its primary listing, but Heaslip said Pushpay plans to retain both its New Zealand and ASX listings.
The company expects ACMR to dip in the current quarter due to seasonal effects, before steadily growing over the rest of the calendar year.
Chief business development officer James Maiocco said Pushpay had been in talks with Apple since the middle of last year, when Apple changed guidelines for its App Store to prohibit apps being generated from a template.
In December, Apple clarified and lifted that prohibition following US Congressional pressure and Pushpay has now begun using its consolidated app.