Afterpay shares shoot up 23pc following sales surge

SHARES in Afterpay Touch have hit a record high after the credit provider reported a surge in sales carried out on its platform.

The “buy now, pay later” company revealed yesterday that it had processed more than $2.18 billion of “underlying sales” in the year to June.

That tally was up 289 per cent from the previous year.

Investors were delighted with the numbers, sending Afterpay’s shares up 23.9 per cent to a record $13.53 yesterday afternoon.

The Afterpay platform is used by 16,500 retailers, up from 6000 a year ago, and it was launched in the US in May.

The company is set to release its audited financial results on August 23, with total group revenue expected to come in at $142 million.

In April, Afterpay shares had crashed following revelations an underage user established an account and ordered seven bottles of French champagne worth $334 in less than five minutes.

The 16 year-old child of a staff member at shareholder services group Ownership Matters had $80 in the bank, no credit history and no job.

Afterpay responded quickly in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, saying it was upgrading its procedures to “curtail underage usage of its service by dishonest users”.

“On the merchant side, there are a number of legal obligations imposed on businesses that sell restricted items such as alcohol online, including an overarching obligation not to sell or deliver alcohol to a minor,” the statement said.

The review also found it was possible to transact with Afterpay anonymously.

An account was set up using the name “Miguel Laucha”, which is Spanish for Mickey Mouse. A $100 prepaid Visa card was then purchased from a major retailer, along with a prepaid SIM card, also from a major retailer.

Afterpay said its data showed the company was serving the vast majority of its customers well and they were using the product responsibly.