Pushpay on track, despite wider net loss in first half

AUCKLAND: Pushpay Holdings, the mobile payments app company, widened its net loss in the first half despite lifting revenue, but reiterated its guidance for the year ahead.

The company’s loss widened to US$12.5 million in the six months ended September 30, from US$11.3 million a year earlier, while revenue more than doubled to US$29.7 million from US$12.1 million.

Pushpay’s app has gained traction in the US faith sector, where its services are used by 2% of the estimated 314,000 churches. It is now in use in 50 of the top 100 churches in the US, with transactions of US$2.1 billion based on annualised monthly figures. In the first half, the company lifted customer numbers and average revenue per customer, along with staff numbers, up 22% to 341.

Annualised committed monthly revenue (ACMR), the company’s preferred metric, which measures total billings through merchants that Pushpay collects fees from, jumped to US$67.5 million from US$34.3 million a year earlier.

Pushpay is still aiming for a US listing, and the company’s board now plans to pursue that within the next 15 months, it said. The company reiterated its expectations of reaching US$100 million in ACMR by December 31, annual revenue of US$70 million in the 2018 financial year, and break even on a monthly cash flow basis by the end of calendar 2018.

The company said it was focusing more on medium and large churches, which invest more in implementing their software, are less likely to leave, and generate increased fees over time.

‘‘Although we have a high proportion of the top 100 largest churches in the US, we have only just started penetrating the medium and large church segments,’’ the company said. ‘‘Pushpay’s less than 4.5% share of the number of churches in those market segments suggests longterm duration growth.’’ — BusinessDesk