Afterpay claims an edge on its rivals

AFTERPAY has claimed leadership in the hotly contested, global buy now, pay later industry, as the group raises $1.25bn to lift ownership of its US unit from 80 per cent to up to 93 per cent.

The share purchase from investor Matrix Partners and US employees values the US business at 28 per cent of the parent, or $10.7bn, with the parent retaining its pathway to full ownership.

Afterpay went into a trading halt before the market opened on Thursday before announcing its half-year result.

While the bottom-line loss blew out to $79.2m from $31.6m a year ago, it was mostly attributed to the higher valuation of a minority interest in the UK business.

Co-chief executive and co-founder Anthony Eisen (pictured) said the result demonstrated in a number of ways that Afterpay was the global leader in the BNPL industry, overshadowing its Swedish rival and Commonwealth Bank partner Klarna.

“You measure that by customer frequency as well as customer numbers, what customers are actually doing on your platform, and how that translates to merchant outcomes,” Mr Eisen said.

The number of active Afterpay customers reached 13.1 million, up 80 per cent on the previous corresponding period, with strong growth in the US and British markets.

Smaller rival Zip Co reported a net loss for the December half of $455.9m, from a $30.3m loss a year earlier, as the company ploughed its growing revenue into expansion. Zip shares slumped 7.9 per cent to $10.92.